David Millar's 'swan song'

specialgueststar

thegreatdivide wrote:

Richrd2205 wrote:

6th paragraph of the first linked-to article:

“I’m going to get my head kicked in,” he said. “I’ve never done a hill climb before, I’m riding with a broken hand and I can hardly get out of the saddle.”

I mean, it's kinda tricky to get through 100 words of article to find the reason, it's probably just easier to make stuff up...

. He was on his standard team S5.

I think 9,300km of quality race miles at WT level this year , 17 years a pro and all the back up of a professional sports team outweighs using a single chainset and a dodgy brake lever

okgo

pb21 wrote:

Bradley Wiggins did this event (or the Catford one?) a few years ago, whilst riding for CA, and I rode it faster, its just for publicity really.

I don't doubt Millar could have won if he wanted.

He could not have won. He was giving it full beans if you look at any of the videos.

I think perhaps his comments before the event about course record etc were tongue in cheek, the best hill climbers are world class w/kg for those events. Tejvan Pettinger would beat most of the pro peloton up a steepish 4 minute climb.

FJS

Graham Briggs, Russ Downing and Adam Blythe all beat 2012 national champ and winner at Bec Hill Jack Pullar at Monsal Hill Climb just over a week ago

ginsterdrz

Bet it's a massive relief for him...........not to have to wear that ridiculous POTTY on his head. I note he didn't wear it on Sunday.

Don't even get me started on their clumpy sunglasses!

Art Vandelay

phreak wrote:

I also suspect he wasn't going full-on. It wouldn't be very gracious to go there and thrash the field.

I doubt Millar was coasting - the organiser and the crowd would have loved Millar's name on the trophy. Millar's had a terrible last season. He was desperate to get in a break in the Vuelta/Eneco but never made the cut. He was hoping for a top 3 in the Commonwealth but had no where near the form for that. It won't make the editor's job easy when they attempt to liven up the film of his final year.

thegreatdivide

Art Vandelay wrote:

phreak wrote:

I also suspect he wasn't going full-on. It wouldn't be very gracious to go there and thrash the field.

I doubt Millar was coasting - the organiser and the crowd would have loved Millar's name on the trophy. Millar's had a terrible last season. He was desperate to get in a break in the Vuelta/Eneco but never made the cut. He was hoping for a top 3 in the Commonwealth but had no where near the form for that. It won't make the editor's job easy when they attempt to liven up the film of his final year.

That's not the point if the film.

pinno

I cannot believe people are dissing a guy who completed 2 Giro's, 11 TdF's and 6 Vuelta's winning a few stages on the way and had a career lasting 17 years over a piddling mole hill of a hill climb in October. It wasn't the Galibier, in fact it wasn't even 0.0001% of it.
I know he ain't no Tony Martin or Fabian Cancellara but come on, ffs.

gattocattivo

pinarello001 wrote:

IIt wasn't the Galibier, in fact it wasn't even 0.0001% of it.

Ummmm......

RichN95.

pinarello001 wrote:

I cannot believe people are dissing a guy who completed 2 Giro's, 11 TdF's and 6 Vuelta's winning a few stages on the way and had a career lasting 17 years over a piddling mole hill of a hill climb in October. It wasn't the Galibier, in fact it wasn't even 0.0001% of it.
I know he ain't no Tony Martin or Fabian Cancellara but come on, ffs.

He's the only current cyclist to wear the leader's jersey and win a stage of all the Grand Tours.

(Note: Contador was stripped of his Giro stage wins)

Rodrego Hernandez

RichN95 wrote:

pinarello001 wrote:

I cannot believe people are dissing a guy who completed 2 Giro's, 11 TdF's and 6 Vuelta's winning a few stages on the way and had a career lasting 17 years over a piddling mole hill of a hill climb in October. It wasn't the Galibier, in fact it wasn't even 0.0001% of it.
I know he ain't no Tony Martin or Fabian Cancellara but come on, ffs.

He's the only current cyclist to wear the leader's jersey and win a stage of all the Grand Tours.

(Note: Contador was stripped of his Giro stage wins)

Millar should have been stripped of his though. Clean sport can only prosper when the cheats are out and with his retirement, thats one less cheat in the bunch.

ginsterdrz

Please lock this post, it's got far too boring and serious.

andyp

If you don't like it, don't read it.

Locking threads shouldn't happen just because some goon doesn't like the content.

ginsterdrz

Hey guy, chill out.

You do remember laughter.....don't you?

The Goons were probably the funniest group of genius' ever. No offence taken :-)

frenchfighter

FJS wrote:

Graham Briggs, Russ Downing and Adam Blythe all beat 2012 national champ and winner at Bec Hill Jack Pullar at Monsal Hill Climb just over a week ago

it is an absolute beast of a ramp and totally unsuited to Millar. He came 21st with all the issues already mentioned whilst competing against specialists who would have this as a major target and have specialized bikes and done the climb 100s of times before.

I was one of the first to talk down Millar many months ago but this performance is pretty ok imo.

Paul 8v

Exactly, horses for courses. It's great to see pro riders doing local events so why do people diss him for it?

I don't think anyone could accuse him of not trying from the picture!

I saw Millar riding the breakaway on the Champs Elysees in his last tour, the crowd loved him, even the French. It's a shame there is actually a lot of hate for British riders on here. The guy messed up and then spent the rest of his career trying to stop others from going down the same path. At least he learnt from his mistakes and tried to do something good.

Rodrego Hernandez

Paul 8v wrote:

Exactly, horses for courses. It's great to see pro riders doing local events so why do people diss him for it?

I don't think anyone could accuse him of not trying from the picture!

I saw Millar riding the breakaway on the Champs Elysees in his last tour, the crowd loved him, even the French. It's a shame there is actually a lot of hate for British riders on here. The guy messed up and then spent the rest of his career trying to stop others from going down the same path. At least he learnt from his mistakes and tried to do something good.

Yeah right, Garmin regularly placed riders in the top 5 of the Tour by being clean! They are the same as the rest and the only lesson Millar learned is not go get caught.

lostboysaint

Rodrego Hernandez wrote:

They are the same as the rest and the only lesson Millar learned is not go get caught.

I look forward to seeing your substantiation of that claim.

Paul 8v

Indeed!

Just a thought...
viewtopic.php?f=40002&t=12611535

disgruntledgoat

Rodrego Hernandez wrote:

Paul 8v wrote:

Exactly, horses for courses. It's great to see pro riders doing local events so why do people diss him for it?

I don't think anyone could accuse him of not trying from the picture!

I saw Millar riding the breakaway on the Champs Elysees in his last tour, the crowd loved him, even the French. It's a shame there is actually a lot of hate for British riders on here. The guy messed up and then spent the rest of his career trying to stop others from going down the same path. At least he learnt from his mistakes and tried to do something good.

Yeah right, Garmin regularly placed riders in the top 5 of the Tour by being clean! They are the same as the rest and the only lesson Millar learned is not go get caught.

Ain't libel brilliant. Don't worry, nobody ever got caught out anonymously libelling somebody on the Internet.

Rodrego Hernandez

Of course you all 'know' he's whiter than white because he goes out of his way to bang on about it all the time.

He's cheated too many out of careers for me to see his retirement as anything other than a good thing and it's ironic that in his last year, when he did nothing on the bike, he took the place on the team of someone who could have been given the chance to be a pro.

Good riddance and hopefully this is the last we see of the prick.

thegreatdivide

Rodrego Hernandez wrote:

Of course you all 'know' he's whiter than white because he goes out of his way to bang on about it all the time.

He's cheated too many out of careers for me to see his retirement as anything other than a good thing and it's ironic that in his last year, when he did nothing on the bike, he took the place on the team of someone who could have been given the chance to be a pro.

Good riddance and hopefully this is the last we see of the prick.

What a charmer.

salsiccia1

Rodrego Hernandez wrote:

Of course you all 'know' he's whiter than white because he goes out of his way to bang on about it all the time.

He's cheated too many out of careers for me to see his retirement as anything other than a good thing and it's ironic that in his last year, when he did nothing on the bike, he took the place on the team of someone who could have been given the chance to be a pro.

Good riddance and hopefully this is the last we see of the prick.

Didn't you say he/Garmin are the same as all the rest in an earlier post? So exactly who has been cheated out of a career, if everyone who ever goes pro are all on the gear?

And if everyone's dirty, why do you bother watching it?

Lanterne_Rogue

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why the hijacking of the word 'trolling' by the media to mean 'endlessly offensive and stupid on the internet' is a terrible thing. Back in the day, people took pride in trolling threads, spending hours honing their one carefully crafted comment and then slipping away unnoticed from the resulting flame war. Nowadays any old idiot comes along, puts forward a vaguely counter-factual view, and within five posts is calling someone a prick. Where's the craft? Where's the wit and invention? Where's the panache?

As for Millar, I'll miss him - regardless of what you think of his position in the sport, he was one of the few voices in the peloton to give the impression they were sharing an insight into the day's racing when they were interviewed.

pinno

Millar used to write a column in Cycle Sport - he was very articulate (unlike some :roll: ), I liked his articles.

andyrr

Rodrego Hernandez wrote:

Of course you all 'know' he's whiter than white because he goes out of his way to bang on about it all the time.

He's cheated too many out of careers for me to see his retirement as anything other than a good thing and it's ironic that in his last year, when he did nothing on the bike, he took the place on the team of someone who could have been given the chance to be a pro.

Good riddance and hopefully this is the last we see of the prick.

and you obviously have very good information to back up the insinuation that in fact post-ban he was as dirty as before and when Millar openly said that he was an ex-doper trying to do some good based upon his own knowledge and experience it was all a cover for even more shady shenanigans.
What a git he obviously was !

Back on-topic, I'd guess, only a guess mind, that Millar was trying pretty hard but whether due to lack of motivation or injury to his hand or whatever, his effort only related to 95% of his max whereas the real UK end of season hillclimb specialists have been honing their form very specifically for these hills which are a pretty different proposition to the usual Alpine climbs that Millar would regularly encounter at the tail-end of a 180Km stage.
He'l have massive endurance but that's not what you need for winning a 1-off 5 or 10 minute hill sprint.

lostboysaint

Rodrego Hernandez wrote:

Of course you all 'know' he's whiter than white because he goes out of his way to bang on about it all the time.

He's cheated too many out of careers for me to see his retirement as anything other than a good thing and it's ironic that in his last year, when he did nothing on the bike, he took the place on the team of someone who could have been given the chance to be a pro.

Good riddance and hopefully this is the last we see of the prick.

So that's a fairly positive "no" for the substantiation then.

davidof

andyrr wrote:

Rodrego Hernandez wrote:

Back on-topic, I'd guess, only a guess mind, that Millar was trying pretty hard but whether due to lack of motivation or injury to his hand or whatever, his effort only related to 95% of his max whereas the real UK end of season hillclimb specialists have been honing their form very specifically for these hills which are a pretty different proposition to the usual Alpine climbs that Millar would regularly encounter at the tail-end of a 180Km stage.
He'l have massive endurance but that's not what you need for winning a 1-off 5 or 10 minute hill sprint.

Millar's old buddy Armstrong would have smashed it, he'd have never let a bunch of amateurs beat him.

Le Commentateur

Wiggins did the exact same hill climb competition back in 2005 and just kind of trundled up it. Mind you it was freezing cold misty drizzle that day.

Daz555

Interms of "swansong" I'm sure Millar and his producers would have swapped for Jen's final year in the saddle.

Brailsford Bad

Rodrego Hernandez wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

pinarello001 wrote:

I cannot believe people are dissing a guy who completed 2 Giro's, 11 TdF's and 6 Vuelta's winning a few stages on the way and had a career lasting 17 years over a piddling mole hill of a hill climb in October. It wasn't the Galibier, in fact it wasn't even 0.0001% of it.
I know he ain't no Tony Martin or Fabian Cancellara but come on, ffs.

He's the only current cyclist to wear the leader's jersey and win a stage of all the Grand Tours.

(Note: Contador was stripped of his Giro stage wins)

Millar should have been stripped of his though. Clean sport can only prosper when the cheats are out and with his retirement, thats one less cheat in the bunch.

I completely agree. Millars best victory was pulling the wool over everyones eyes and getting us all to believe hes a good guy. Fact is, hes no different to Armstrong.

Theres no middle ground here folks, you're either a cheat or your're not. And Millar is a cheat. Its very easy to sit there now, crack a few jokes, put on the sad Shrek cat eyes with a whimpering voice saying "im an ex-doper"..awww bless. But the fact remains he never came clean, he got caught. Would he have ever admitted it had he not been caught?

No Millar, you're an ex-doper. End of. And the peloton is a better place without you and the likes of Armstrong bringing the sport down, admissions or not.

Im glad hes gone.