Millar speaks loud and clear after Paris-Nice win

Following his Paris-Nice prologue victory on Monday in Issy-les-Moulineaux, just a few miles from the Parisian suburb of Nanterre where he appeared in court in November as a conclusion to the Cofidis affair, David Millar has once again spoken out against doping.

"Last Thursday and Friday, I was in London for a conference about drugs," said Millar. "I feel that I have a new responsibility in the fight against drugs. I want to be a voice in the clean up of the sport for the coming generations. I can't forget the mistakes from the past. I want to be an example every day now."

Millar also had a message for the newcomers: "The young riders must not believe that there is a need for injections of recovery products. It's useless," he said.

The Briton wants to ride clean but refuses to give up on his ambitions in cycling. "I have set the year 2012 as the end of my career," he said. "In the five remaining years I want to become the world's best rider. I have come back a long way but I'm stronger than ever. Confidence will be the key for winning the prologue of the Tour de France in London."

Millar isn't only the spokesman for the drugs issue and acknowledges that cycling's current problems stretch far beyond doping itself. "There is so much to be done at every level of cycling, not only about drugs, also at the federations, the races, etc," he concluded.

Paris-Nice certainly sounds like the new start for cycling with the community being reunited and the UCI finally putting in place the anti-doping program awaited since 1998. It's a new start for Millar, that's obvious. JFQ