Garmin's Millar clocked nine minutes and 49 seconds over 7.7 km in and around a sunbathed Porto Vecchio to beat twice Tour de France champion Alberto Contador, 15th overall, by two seconds.

It was not enough, however, to overtake opening stage winner Fedrigo, whose time of 10:06 was good enough for overall victory.

Australian Michael Rogers, third in the time trial, was second overall 14 seconds adrift, with Portugal's Tiago Machado in third, one second further behind.

"I'm 31 but I still don't know my limits, I still surprise myself," said Fedrigo.

Millar stole the limelight on Sunday with the Scot, a former Tour de France prologue winner, digging deep to beat Contador, who was determined to make his mark after his victory hopes were ruined by allergy problems on Saturday.

"It's like I rode a bat out of hell and didn't think about it," Millar, who took fifth place overall, told reporters.

"I just ran hard. I kind of just crescended it over the top, just recovered all the way down the descent, and then again just crescended again over the false flat at the time check, and then hung on for dear life in the tailwind.

"Thanks to my size and my aerodynamics it's hard for others to go faster than me."

Even Contador, who won the final time trial in last year's Tour de France, could not match Millar's pace.

"I am happy with today's performance, I did not have these problems with allergies also because it was a shorter effort (than Saturday)," Contador told Reuters by his Astana team bus, wearing a pair of jeans and a team polo after having a quick shower.

"The legs did respond well today. Of course I would have wanted to win the stage but Millar is a (time trial) specialist."

Lance Armstrong, who is still far from top form, trailed in 15th in the time trial, 19 seconds off the pace for a mediocre 47th place overall.

"It was hard to find a rhythm, but I felt better than I did in Murcia (earlier this month)," Armstrong, his RadioShack team shirt half open, told reporters as he was recuperating in the front of his hotel facing the Porto Vecchio bay.

Earlier on Saturday, Briton Russell Downing had taken the second stage, winning a bunch sprint at the end of a 75-km ride around Porto Vecchio.

"I came to the Criterium to win the sprinter stage, yes. So I'm happy," the diminutive 2005 British champion from Team Sky told Reuters.