"London will be the chance of a lifetime," says Millar

British time trial specialist David Millar, who will make his formal return to competition at this year's Tour de France after a two-year ban for admitting to use of EPO is looking forward to the Tour de France starting in London in 2007. Millar told UK newspaper The Independent: "Although I'll be going for that [the 2006 Tour prologue in Strasbourg] 100 per cent as well, London will be the chance of a lifetime."

"It's going to be huge, absolutely massive - the level of interest, everything," said Millar. "It can only be great news for British cycling and compared with 10 years ago, when the race last came to England, our federation has the resources now and the schemes all in place to exploit the opportunity a lot better."

The 29 year-old Scot shot to fame after winning the prologue at the 2000 Tour in Futuroscope, where he beat seven-time winner Lance Armstrong by two seconds to take his first maillot jaune and held onto the lead for a further two stages. At the 2003 world road championships in Hamilton, Millar achieved his crowning moment when he won the individual time trial, but the following year, a police raid at his French home in Biarritz found the cyclist to be in possession of used ampoule of EPO, which he later admitted was his.