David Millar
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David Millar (born January 4, 1977 in Malta, and grew up in many places including Hong Kong, although claiming Scottish nationality) is, or until mid-2004 was, Britain's finest road racing cyclist. He had, it is widely accepted, underachieved in his career but still had won three Tour de France stages, two Vuelta a Espaņa stages, and other accolades. He is not related to fellow Scot and cycling namesake Robert Millar.
David Millar burst into the cycling scene as the young leader of the French team Cofidis by winning the prologue of the 2000 Tour de France, and held the yellow jersey for a few days. He failed to repeat his feat in 2001 due to a crash, but again won the prologue in 2002. During his attempt to again win the prologue in 2003, his chain dropped a short distance from the finish due to the absence of front derailleur, a decision which he blamed on directeur sportif Alain Bondue. He claimed that he lost the prologue because Bondue was trying to save a few grams by removing the front derailleur from his time-trial bike.
Hopes of him someday winning the Tour de France was fueled by his stage win in the 2001 Vuelta a Espaņa, which saw him in a 2-man breakaway with Santiago Botero, on a difficult mountain stage of the Vuelta. However, Millar himself has been quoted as saying that if he were to challenge the general classification of the Tour de France, it would be only if he were certain of winning, not simply to get a top finish. He is known for his straightforward comments, and he quit the Vuelta in 2002 to protest the poor route selection and dangerous parcours. He had crashed multiple times and upon approaching the finish of the stage, Millar ripped off his race number and quit only meters from the finish line.
A good friend of Lance Armstrong, he too had specialised in the individual time trial, and was preparing for competition in the track events at the 2004 Olympics when police searched his house in June 2004, finding used Epogen syringes. Millar confessed to the use of EPO in 2001 and 2003. He blamed his use of EPO to his high level of stress, in particular having failed to win the prologue in the 2003 Tour de France and having been defeated by Jan Ullrich in the 2001 World Time Trial Championship, despite having raised his arms in the finale in confidence of winning. Jan Ullrich had increased his tempo to make up his time deficit and beat Millar in the final section of the course.
In August 2004 Millar was suspended for two years by the British Cycling Federation, stripped of his 2003 World Time Trial Championship, and given a $1,600 fine. He was also fired by the Cofidis team, which imposed a self-ban from competition in order to find team members who were involved in the scandal.
External links
- David Millar's official website (http://www.itsmillartime.com)de:David Millar