What really happened to Robert Millar?

mr_goo

I was visiting a client in Dorset today, who had acquired an ex race bike from one of Robert Millar's old teams. This then prompted the conversation as to what happened to him? My client said he had heard that he lived locally and is now called Roberta!!! To which I replied that I had heard this rumour. And am sure that it was on Radar couple of years back. Is the rumour really true? Does anyone know for sure?
BTW the bike was a Peugeot (Vitus) and possibly was that of Jacques Bossis. Fantastic looking frame.

ordain

He's still using the name Robert Millar on his blog: http://www.cyclingnews.com/blogs/robert-millar/

Yellow Peril

We are fortunate to have him post on this forum from time to time and he writes incisively during the racing season.

Is there any need to know more than that?

tailwindhome

The truth is that he won some bicycle races, a lot of people loved watching him and then he retired.

danlikesbikes

Seem to recall someone saying that he lived in Daventry & was still riding his bike but that might have been a long time ago.

Either way he was & still is a hero to me watching on our little TV as he flew up mountains..... you get the idea.

I don't care or want to know what he is doing now as if he chooses to live his life privately then lets live with his wishes & remember what we can about how he used to ride.

dolan_driver

I heard that Brian Smith is still in regular contact with Robert Millar. I guess Bob wants to stay firmly out of the limelight, which is our loss. He has a lot of good stuff to say on the sport as it is today. His occasional writings on cyclingnews always hit the nail on the head. Those two pieces he wrote on Lance and the U.C.I. are killer.

His diary in the early editions of Cycle Sport was some of the funniest stuff I've ever read on the sport. The Cycle Sport Robert Millar retirement special is one of my most coveted cycling magazines. Apparently, Phil Ligget wasn't a big fan of his so that's a reasonable seal of approval. He did a little commentating on Eurosport at one point and was pretty good. Robert Millar and Sean Kelly working together on Eurosport would be a bit of a commentating dream team. There'd probably be a bit of "dead air" but they'd call the race spot-on most of the time while taking the p!ss out of themselves and probably one or two others. It'd be hilarious.

Whatever he is up to these days, I hope he is happy. It's great to see he still has a keen interest in the sport and his writings will always be worth reading.

DD.

salsiccia1

Danlikesbikes wrote:

Seem to recall someone saying that he lived in Daventry & was still riding his bike but that might have been a long time ago.

Either way he was & still is a hero to me watching on our little TV as he flew up mountains..... you get the idea.

I don't care or want to know what he is doing now as if he chooses to live his life privately then lets live with his wishes & remember what we can about how he used to ride.

Sums it up perfectly for me.

mechanism

I don't know if you've read In Search of Robert Millar by Richard Moore, but I was impressed by the amount of detailed research that went into that book.

rick_chasey

Still writes occasionally.

When he does it's worth reading. Wish he did it more often, but then maybe it wouldn't always be so insightful.

I happened to pick up a rouleur copy a few years ago and he wrote a piece on climbing which was really very good.

gaffer_slow

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/a-state ... ippa-york/

shockedsoshocked

All the best to her, the insights on this forum were always excellent.

above_the_cows

The very best of luck Philippa.

ocdupalais

Oh my lord - fantastic news she's joining the itv4 crew.
The dream team just got dreamier.
I always thought the most curious thing about all the rumours was that she'd choose to live in Daventry.

No_Ta_Doctor

Good luck to her. Hope she'll pop back into the forum one day.

Richmond Racer 2

This is great news!

kingstonian

Watching Robert racing on the tv is one of the strongest memories I have of pro cycling when I was a kid. I was enthralled by the out-of-this-world climbing ability.

No_Ta_Doctor

Kingstonian wrote:

Watching Robert racing on the tv is one of the strongest memories I have of pro cycling when I was a kid. I was enthralled by the out-of-this-world climbing ability.

The Millar v Lucho Herrera years. Beautiful to watch the pure climbers go at it.

rick_chasey

Her views on ITV4?

Outstanding.

Lanterne_Rogue

Like sunshine in a lift, this is brilliant on many levels. Have always enjoyed her writing - looking forward to more.

orraloon

Respect.

ddraver

ITV4 are building a powerhouse team. One somewhat wasted on just the Tour each year

amrushton

Welcome back. No doubt some to55ers on social media will be able to vent their ire but those who read her commentaries on the TdF and remember the forum when she would take questions on this site will know of her insights. Is David Millar staying on? A tale of two millars and that alone is worth the price of admission

RonB

Great news. Good luck Philippa in everything that you do.

Frank Wilson

Crossbar or not then?

yourpaceormine

You were inspirational in your past life as Robert, by taking on such a public role I'm sure you'll be equally inspirational Phillipa.


Despite our slightly more enlightened times I do expect a Daily Heil outrage storm. I hope I am wrong.

wagtail685

Couldn't care less if he's a she now. All I care about is if she knows her stuff. Fascinated to hear what she has to say.

Bo Duke

Great! There are many things in life I don't have the courage to do, what Phillipa has achieved is one of the greatest challenges out there. Wish you every happiness.

salsiccia1

What impresses me, alongside Philippa's obvious courage, is that there are journalists and those in the cycling world who have known about this for some time and have respected her privacy until Philippa herself decided to speak about things. That's really heartening.

All the best to her, and I'm looking forward to seeing what she brings to ITV4's coverage.

zammmmo

Looking forward to hearing her comments and insights, just as with David Millar and Chris Boardman. All of their input is non run-of-the-mill, and you feel like you can trust what they say given their first hand knowledge. Imlach, Matt and Ned are not bad too - they all have a certain way with words.

daniel_b

Have I missed her input already?

On holiday, so only managing to catch the highlights show. Had to suffer Kirby on Tuesday, made me be so thankful for millar and boulting. Chalk and cheese.

Agreed, imlach and boardman contribute to a highly informed and effective team, be nice if they could do the vuelta and giro too, though at least the latter was kirbyless.

amrushton

is Kirkby not a Eurosport commentator? Ned/Millar/Boardman/Imlach will be employed by ITV4 I presume and generally everyone gets the same feed from French TV and commentate appropriately. Think Yorke may have been waiting to go public before setting foot or voice on camera.