David Millar announces retirement after 2014 season.

zammmmo

Alan A wrote:

I had the fortune to cheer DM up the slopes of Avoriaz in 2010 and give him a wee push. Two days later at the start he recognised us and was very very charming. I have 2 fantastic photos of me cheering him up the climb and also him with my daughter at the start. True gent.

Oh you did that too did you? He also had a little help on the Tourmalet too that year.

FWIW I too will miss Millar, he was a pretty eloquent/candid interviewee and his riding wasnt too shabby either - had the fortune to be there at Futuroscope in 2000 for the prologue. A few mates, some beers, French food, warm weather, and a British win...good times.

alan_a

zammmmo wrote:

Oh you did that too did you? He also had a little help on the Tourmalet too that year.

Pity you weren't there a couple of days earlier. I needed lots of help for the etape.

rayjay

I read Millar's book. Milllar "I don't feel its right for a doped athlete to ride in the Olympics" Oh I can ride in the Olympics ,,,YESSSSSSS I will do it even if it go's against every thing I previously said :
Vino wins Gold Millar is nowhere poor Millar

heavymental

I'll miss Millartime. I've always liked him as a rider and as a person. His stage win in the tour in 2012 was a highlight of that amazing sporting year and I've enjoyed cheering him up a few climbs in the alps in my time. A guy who has seen the sport change a huge amount and has been at the centre of it for worse... and for better. Enjoy your retirement Dave, look forward to your media and cycling contributions in the years to come.

I'm really considering doing one of those big banners, getting a campervan and making sure to hit the tour in 2014 with my happy retirement message. Think I'll get a big carriage clock printed on it!

thomthom

rayjay wrote:

I read Millar's book. Milllar "I don't feel its right for a doped athlete to ride in the Olympics" Oh I can ride in the Olympics ,,,YESSSSSSS I will do it even if it go's against every thing I previously said :
Vino wins Gold Millar is nowhere poor Millar

That's a lot of smileys.

ad_snow

Richmond Racer

Rumour's been knocking around for a while that Millar and sister Fran might start up their own team after he's retired

Pross

ThomThom wrote:

That's a lot of smileys.

Trying to make up for a complete inability to make sensible comments.

I'm on the fence a bit with Millar. He reminds me a lot of multi-millionaire rock / film stars that lecture people on ending poverty but on the other hand he seems an interesting person to listen to and I've heard from others that met him that he is a genuinely nice person to talk to. He's probably the most tactically astute British rider of recent years. I think a career in the commentary box is a certainty.

Richmond Racer

According to roadcc today (sorry, cant paste link in here), Millar's going to be acting as technical advisor on the Stephen Frears' Lance movie

Lance'll love that. 'Radio Millar'.

mpie

schlepcycling wrote:

...
I suspect that if he hadn't been carted off and then subsequently confessed then he'd be another Bjarne Riis in that he'd own up to it many years after he'd retired.

For my education (at least), are there any pro-cyclist who have admitted to doping without being either caught or retired?

rayjay

Pross wrote:

ThomThom wrote:

That's a lot of smileys.

Trying to make up for a complete inability to make sensible comments.

Millar said he would not ride the Olympics as he thought it go's against the ethos of what the games stand for. Millar is supposed to be this anti drug, I have been their lets clean up our sport guru. As soon as the opportunity to race in the olympics knocked on the door, in he went. Imagine if he turned down the olympics and made a point against doping. Imagine the impact that would have had being that Vino won. He missed a great chance to bring the issue into the media spotlight with Vinos victory. Hypocrite and self serving is how I see him.

dish_dash

rayjay wrote:

Pross wrote:

ThomThom wrote:

That's a lot of smileys.

Trying to make up for a complete inability to make sensible comments.

Millar said he would not ride the Olympics as he thought it go's against the ethos of what the games stand for. Millar is supposed to be this anti drug, I have been their lets clean up our sport guru. As soon as the opportunity to race in the olympics knocked on the door, in he went. Imagine if he turned down the olympics and made a point against doping. Imagine the impact that would have had being that Vino won. He missed a great chance to bring the issue into the media spotlight with Vinos victory. Hypocrite and self serving is how I see him.

rrrrrrrrrright, because he has a crystal ball that would have told him that Vino would win and he would make more of an impact by not riding rather than riding and trying to contribute to his country winning a medal...

joelsim

Having read his book, he comes across as a decent guy. He is well past his best now and time to retire to let someone younger through. Would like to see him get a job on anti doping at the UCI.

BenderRodriguez

I think my most enduring memory of Millar is the way, after his own doping bust, he attacked Landis for finally exposing what went on in Armstrong's teams.

Garmin-Transitions' David Millar, who came back in 2006 from a two-year doping ban after admitting his guilt, is furious at Landis.

"He's reached the end of the road and I just find it disgusting," said Millar from his home training base in Girona, Spain. "He's a liar and a cheat and he has nothing left in cycling so he just wants to burn the house down.

..."If he had stood up and manned up four years ago, he'd be racing the Tour de France now," Millar said. "He'd have a different book out. He'd have not lost a penny. He'd be admired by young people. He would have a different life ahead of him. He'd be in a decent mental state. He'd be sober.

"And he'd be married."

By the way, does Millar still claim that he only used Epo on two occasions? :roll:

mike6

BenderRodriguez wrote:

I think my most enduring memory of Millar is the way, after his own doping bust, he attacked Landis for finally exposing what went on in Armstrong's teams.

Garmin-Transitions' David Millar, who came back in 2006 from a two-year doping ban after admitting his guilt, is furious at Landis.

"He's reached the end of the road and I just find it disgusting," said Millar from his home training base in Girona, Spain. "He's a liar and a cheat and he has nothing left in cycling so he just wants to burn the house down.

..."If he had stood up and manned up four years ago, he'd be racing the Tour de France now," Millar said. "He'd have a different book out. He'd have not lost a penny. He'd be admired by young people. He would have a different life ahead of him. He'd be in a decent mental state. He'd be sober.

"And he'd be married."

By the way, does Millar still claim that he only used Epo on two occasions? :roll:

No, read his book.

rayjay

dish_dash wrote:

rayjay wrote:

Pross wrote:

ThomThom wrote:

That's a lot of smileys.

Trying to make up for a complete inability to make sensible comments.

Millar said he would not ride the Olympics as he thought it go's against the ethos of what the games stand for. Millar is supposed to be this anti drug, I have been their lets clean up our sport guru. As soon as the opportunity to race in the olympics knocked on the door, in he went. Imagine if he turned down the olympics and made a point against doping. Imagine the impact that would have had being that Vino won. He missed a great chance to bring the issue into the media spotlight with Vinos victory. Hypocrite and self serving is how I see him.

rrrrrrrrrright, because he has a crystal ball that would have told him that Vino would win and he would make more of an impact by not riding rather than riding and trying to contribute to his country winning a medal...

Millar said it was not right for a ex doped athletes to compete at the Olympics. When he got offered the chance to ride he should have stuck by his own words. It would have made more impact by not riding and the fact that Vino won would have made his cause more worthy. Simple.

RichN95.

rayjay wrote:

Millar said it was not right for a ex doped athletes to compete at the Olympics.

Did he? I remember Wiggins saying it, but not Millar.

Millar had said that he wouldn't challenge the BOA's by-law personnally, but not that he agreed with it. He was happy when Shawn LeMerritt got the IOC's ban overturned: http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/10015 ... apply.aspx

Edit: That should say LaShawn Merritt, not Shawn LeMerritt.

Richmond Racer

RichN95 wrote:

rayjay wrote:

Millar said it was not right for a ex doped athletes to compete at the Olympics.

Did he? I remember Wiggins saying it, but not Millar. Millar had said that he wouldn't challenge the BOA's by-law personnally, but not that he agreed with it.
He was happy when Shawn LeMerritt got the IOC's ban overturned: http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/10015 ... apply.aspx

As you say. He never challenged the BOA ruling after his ban in 04 (unlike Chambers), nor did he appeal after the LeMerritt ruling. Different thing from saying 'it was not right for a ex-doped athlete to compete at the Olympics'.

ddraver

Man, I ve not met anyone so consistently wrong as rayjay...

rayjay

ddraver wrote:

Man, I ve not met anyone so consistently wrong as rayjay...

Show me one post where I have been wrong ? SHOW ME. Unlike you my ego does not engage my mouth.
As for the Millar quote it was something I heard him say on the radio well before the Chambers stuff came to light.
maybe even before the commonwealth games. I mean you seem to pick and choose what dopers you like.
Its usually the English ones are ok but the Spanish ones or the USA ones are somehow bigger cheats.
I don't like hypocrites and that's exactly what Millar is. Would you bet your house that he has been riding clean since he got caught?

RichN95.

rayjay wrote:

As for the Millar quote it was something I heard him say on the radio well before the Chambers stuff came to light.
maybe even before the commonwealth games.

Would that be the Commonwealth Games that Millar competed in after successfully appealling against Scotland's lifetime ban on dopers in 2009 while stating his position on the Olympic policy? Or a different one?

Source (always helps if you have one): http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/d ... alth-games

rayjay wrote:

I mean you seem to pick and choose what dopers you like.
Its usually the English ones are ok but the Spanish ones or the USA ones are somehow bigger cheats.

We also pick and chose which riders we like. This can be due to nationality amongst many factors. I can't speak for others, but whether I like a doper or note is almost wholly reliant on whether I liked them before they were caught.

Teddy Westside

rayjay wrote:

I mean you seem to pick and choose what dopers you like.
Its usually the English ones are ok...
I don't like hypocrites and that's exactly what Millar is.

But Millar's not English.

David is the only confessed doper (in any sport) I have any time for. I'm quite sick of the boring old "holier than though" phrase being trotted out ad infinitum. Same goes for "hypocrite" - a word so often mis-used as it happens. Had he just slunk into a corner and quietly gone about his cycling business (or retired after his ban), he would have been no better than any other doper and surely would have deserved less respect for that. Instead, he took a step back, realised he could be a force for good in cycling and started fighting back against doping. Frankly, it doesn't matter if he would have admitted being a cheat without being caught, what's more important is he's been doing something positive about it ever since.

Having met David, I happily tell anyone he's far from "holier than thou". Instead he is many of the things others have said in this thread: articulate, intelligent, genuinely nice. And modest. Yes, modest. Instead of talking about himself, he was more keen to tell me to watch out for his then -team-mate Cam Meyer, because he was going on to be a star. And he was right of course. That was back in 2009 - look at his results since then.

Millar has been a strong support rider for the Garmin team as well as providing great entertainment when he has had the opportunity to shine individually. I'll never forget the effort he put in to win stage 12 of the 2012 Tour de France.

Whatever he chooses to do, I expect him to do it well, be it commentary, team management, working for WADA or the UCI, whatever, and I wish him all the best. And I hope to see him compete at the start of the Giro next year.

rayjay

I did not mention the commonwealth games.
I change my mind. Your right Millar is great. When he doped and got caught it did not matter because he is such a nice guy. He's Britons favourite doper , what a guy :roll: That Armstrong though he's a bad doper :roll:

Macaloon

Rayjay. Want to meet for a more private chat? http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40002&t=12945422

Teddy Westside

rayjay wrote:

I did not mention the commonwealth games.

rayjay wrote:

commonwealth games.

:roll:

davidof

One of my big memories of Millar is when he unshipped his chain on the Paris cobbles on the prologue held on the Champs Elysees and he was blaiming everyone but himself for his misfortune - then it turned out part of the problem was he'd removed his front mech to save oh 109 grammes of weight against the advice of his mechanic who said it would help keep the chain on the ring on the bouncy Paris cobblestones.

Still pro cyclists are under a lot of pressure to perform and Millar was stepping into Boardman's prologue shoes back then.

Paul 8v

Who could forget the Millarcopter...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIW1MAv ... ata_player

rayjay

Macaloon wrote:

Rayjay. Want to meet for a more private chat? http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40002&t=12945422

See you there

RichN95.

I think I'm right in saying that he's the only current cyclist to have have both worn the leaders jersey and won a stage in all three Grand Tours.

(Contador got stripped of his 2011 Giro stage wins).

tailwindhome

This line in his Wikipedia entry has the air of made-up-ness about it but is brilliant non the less.

Millar won a gold medal for Malta in the 2001 Games of the Small States of Europe held in San Marino.