Anyone else not have much time for David Millar?

As others said, if he’s serious about cleaning up the sport then he’ll start naming and shaming….I can understand if he wants to leave it until he retires but he’s not really serious about cleaning out cycling unless he gives the UCI, WADA etc the inside info….at the moment all he is is a vocal former drugs cheat.
In his book he states his intention to help young riders stay away from temptation, while this is admirable his words and actions don’t yet tally up…best way to keep the youngsters away from dodgy DRs and bullying team mates is to out those influential dopers…but he hasn’t yet so for the time being his actions appear to be self serving.

He’s got a genuinely interesting story to tell

He’s got a genuinely interesting story to sell. Let’s not forget this is a book written for financial gain.
And any mention of him taking part in the Olympics is okay because Vino did, well then we’re back to it’s okay to cheat because everyone is doing it….surely.

I was riding between whaley bridge and buxton a few years ago and he stopped /slowed down and chatted to me. Nice bloke, not all pro roadies out training would do that!

As others said, if he’s serious about cleaning up the sport then he’ll start naming and shaming….I can understand if he wants to leave it until he retires but he’s not really serious about cleaning out cycling unless he gives the UCI, WADA etc the inside info….at the moment all he is is a vocal former drugs cheat

I don’t disagree with this, but until a few months ago anyone who accused others of doping usually ended up with being sued (successfully) by that person. And if you went to the UCI with information about someone doping, then you ended up getting investigated and sued yourself. When Landis accused LA, his claims were dismissed as the ramblings of a bitter junkie, and even after the USADA report came out there were plenty on here saying “there is no proof other than from a load of old druggies”. You couldn’t really win.

As for Contador, the CAS said in their summary that whilst there was no evidence to support Contadors argument of contaminated meat, there was also no evidence to support WADA’s claim that he took Clenbutamol. It was most likely that the positive came from a contaminated legal supplement. Does that mean is is and has always been clean? Probably not!

If anyone here was riding Pro or Semi Pro or Cat2’s around that era of Millar, then they know just how easy it was and how prevelent it was to get PED’s.
There was an unwritten rule that no one talked about it but just did it. Some call it omerta, I call it axceptance.

Though I’m all for reform, all for open communication be it now or then. It’s how humans work.

What I’m not keen on are organisations who claim to regulate that organisation whilst openly projecting another version of the truth.
But you find that in all walks of life.

Best we can do now is forgive, but not forget.

People make mistakes.

People change in some respects, as they grow older.

I’m not a Millar fan, his book helped me understand his particular story.

As I don’t really follow or idolize any particular athletes or teams.
I feel fairly chilled about what Millar has done. The being caught and fessing up and now trying to put something back into the sport.
Furthermore, I would think he knows that whatever he does now, will never remove the stain. But he’s doing stuff anyway.

Probably the most I could get worked up about his doping days. Was that me would have displaced someone on the podium, who was clean.

253 max hr 😯

Oh and this…

I don’t disagree with this, but until a few months ago anyone who accused others of doping usually ended up with being sued (successfully) by that person. And if you went to the UCI with information about someone doping, then you ended up getting investigated and sued yourself. When Landis accused LA, his claims were dismissed as the ramblings of a bitter junkie, and even after the USADA report came out there were plenty on here saying “there is no proof other than from a load of old druggies”. You couldn’t really win.

… is spot on. The UCI have a lot to answer for. I’d be happy to see Lance go unpunished if his testimony brought about a change of guard at the top levels.

“Now THAT’s telling it how it is should be

ah, here we go”

I have to laugh at you quoting Nicolas Roche in this context!
Is his Dad going to come clean?

I seem to remember Stephen Roche was one of the most vitriolic attackers of Paul Kimmage when he tried to blow the lid on doping in the late 80s and early 90s!!

I read his book and all I feel is indifference towards Millar.
There is a feeling of being short-changed in that he tells only what he wants to tell and there is so much more he could have told – but didn’t. This stance of self-preservation doesn’t mix for this kind of book – but you compare Hamilton’s and Millar’s books and the difference is night and day.

doping in the late 80s and early 90s!!

coff coff … Indurain.

Has anybody spotted the references to iDave in the book? Yes, the man himself is in there.

Is this the same Millar that is apparently irked by the fact LA is going to tell his ‘version’ of the truth in an interview with Oprah, yet appears to have done quite well out of a book where he narates his ‘version’ of the truth?

Has anybody spotted the references to iDave in the book? Yes, the man himself is in there.

Did Millar get a refund? 😉

No, I think he was quite happy with the fitness advice he got.

I enjoyed his book, but I don’t like his tweets.

now Steven Roche —- there is a real arse of a bloke– met him in 98 in ireland –right ego maniac– full of self importance–in a small wee cafe giving it the big i am to uninterested tourists !

Someone clean didn’t get a career because he did.

He was successful before he doped, he doped to maintain his level of performance throughout the season.

I think he is intelligent, eloquent, and a gifted rider, but also that he’s arrogant and narcissistic (long-boarding around the streets of Monaco, who could not think you were an @rse….) Reading his book I actually think he is bipolar- his behaviour is marked by massive peaks and troughs.

In fairness to Millar, with the exception of him not criticising any suspected/convicted current riders in the peloton (Contador etc), he is pretty open about his own doping – appearing on Hardtalk etc is fair bit more cutting than Oprah’s going to be.

Appreciate he does go on a bit, but I have more respect for Garmin for their openness, realism and honesty, than I do for Sky or any other team.

Either way, he’s an amazing rider and tactician – winning the World Champs in 2011 was a large part down to his reading of the race.

DM’s and JV’s attitude seems genuine, Garmin had a no-needles policy long before the UCI. Their learn-from-the-old-guard attitude is more mature and productive than Sky’s knee-jerk witch hunt (which was undermined by letting Sean Yates claim to be leaving with his head held high for medical reasons..)

Well he made a right arse of himself in the Independent today.

While 20 of the 21 podium finishes in Lance Armstrong’s Tour de France era have been tainted with doping scandals, Millar name-checked the winners of the last three Grand Tours – Ryder Hesjedal in the 2012 Giro d’Italia, Bradley Wiggins in the Tour de France and Alberto Contador in the Vuelta a España – as three riders he believed to be clean.

From Sunday Independant

He’s a sycophantic gobshite who was caught in the act.

He made more from his book about his doping than many a clean rider has ever in their career to paraphrase Nicole Cooke