David Millar, a popular cycling ambassador and former British road race champion leaves pro cycling after celebrating a 17-year career. Not all of it was illustrious. Millar served a two year ban, from 2004, for taking performance enhancing drugs. Thanks to his vocal anti-doping campaigning and a second chance return through a ‘clean team’ approach via Garmin-Cervelo, Millar was able to continue and ride well for the next 10 years .
Maybe we’re still geeks, but at least we’re a little bit cooler.
BBC Radio 5 Live catches up with the straight-talking champion on his last race back in England:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8cWzHmLtS8
A palmares to smile about
Millar wore all three main jerseys at the Tour de France; winning three individual stages, and one team time-trial. In the two other GT’s, Millar took the pink and the red in both the Giro D’Italia and Vuelta a España. Slipstream Sports, which later became Garmin-Cervelo, and the current, but soon to change, Garmin-Sharp responded to the US Ant-Doping Agency with this statement: “ While Christian, David and Tom made their mistakes the better part of a decade ago, they also made the choice to stop.”
The dark side may have stopped, but we don’t think this is the last we’ll see of David Millar. Sports Presenter? DS? UCI? Whatever he chooses, here’s to a bright future in cycling.
