David Millar has taken to Twitter to express his sadness and frustration at being left out of Garmin-Sharp’s team for the Tour de France despite the rider, who is in his swansong season, being told last week that he would be taking part in the race for the 13th and final time. Meanwhile, Alex Dowsett of Movistar is also out of the race as he struggles with his fitness.
Millar did not finish yesterday’s national championship road race and on Thursday had also failed to complete the time trial, and in the early hours of this morning the 37-year-old tweeted:
None of my team will answer the phone to me. I under-performed at the nationals. I'm now so scared about losing my Tour spot I can't sleep.
— David Millar (@millarmind) June 30, 2014
Today, Millar – a four-time stage winner and former wearer of the yellow jersey – broke the news to fans that he wouldn’t be in the race in a tweet that mentioned some of the other British riders who will be missing.
I was selected for TdF last week, then they pulled me last night. Wiggo, Dowsett, Pete, Swifty, fancy a city break? I hear York's nice.
— David Millar (@millarmind) June 30, 2014
For the record, I was going to be ready for the Tour, so sad my team didn't believe in me, after everything we've been through. Not cool.
— David Millar (@millarmind) June 30, 2014
Confirming the team today which will be led by Critérium du Dauphiné winner Andrew Talansky, Garmin-Sharp sports director Charly Wegelius said: “Had David Millar been healthy, he would have been a phenomenal team member. We would have loved to have him.
“Unfortunately, as seen over the weekend, David is sick, so we were forced to make a difficult and sad decision. That said, I am confident that we have put together an excellent group of riders that will be best equipped to ride a great race and support Andrew.
“It’s going to be an exciting Tour and as always, we will look to animate the race and bring excitement home to our fans.”
Millar was back on Twitter this evening:
For Sale. Been raced, not much. Battery fully charged (I think). Good condition. Reasonable offers please. pic.twitter.com/aFuGc5P5aB
— David Millar (@millarmind) June 30, 2014
Meanwhile, Dowsett had been due to ride the Tour, and Stage 3 passes through his native Essex, but has been struggling with breathing problems leading Movistar’s management to reluctantly leave him out of the team announced today.
Despite the emergence of Great Britain as a major power in world cycling since the Tour’s last visit to these shores in 2007, it looks as though the race will get under way on Saturday with just three British riders participating – defending champion Chris Froome and Sky team mate Geraint Thomas, plus Omega Pharma-Quick Step’s Mark Cavendish.
As William Fotheringham points out in the Guardian, that’s two fewer than the five who took to the start in London 2007, and in a year when the race returns to England, it seems certain that not a single rider born in the country will participate.
58 thoughts on ““Sick” David Millar unhappy at being cut from Garmin-Sharp’s Tour de France line-up”
Three Brits… specifically a
Three Brits… specifically a Kenyan, a Welshman and a Manxman. Pretty poor, really, though it’s not that there aren’t good Brit riders. It seems a perfect storm of injuries, egos, fatigue and form have brought us here.
It’s sad for Millar, but he did have a good farewell dig on the Champs Elysee last year. The rider I’m especially sorry for is Ben Swift, given that he’s a bona fide Yorkshireman.
BTW have Orica announced their final squad yet? If not, we could add a Yates into the mix.
Absolute pish, the man was
Absolute pish, the man was already selected, how much form can he lose in a week.
I hope Garmin and Sky bomb in the tour, leaving out the riders everyone wants to see.
Ghedebrav wrote:Three
Just cause the tour goes through Yorkshire isn’t reason to give someone a spot on the team.
You won’t have a Yates in a grand tour yet, OGE said they wouldn’t put them into them for a a few years.
Not just what he could have lost, but also what someone else could have gained.
I just hope this doesn’t descend into the way the Wiggins thread went.
I’ll settle all the arguments now, JV & the Garmin DS’s know far far far more than anyone here on team selection.
glynr36 wrote:Ghedebrav
Just cause the tour goes through Yorkshire isn’t reason to give someone a spot on the team.
You won’t have a Yates in a grand tour yet, OGE said they wouldn’t put them into them for a a few years.— Ghedebrav
I just said I felt sorry for him, not that he should’ve been picked (of course he shouldn’t, he had a rough and presumably exhausting Giro).
It’s a bit of a shame that
It’s a bit of a shame that there aren’t more Brits in the line up, but teams have to select the riders that they believe will win and not the ones who score political points with the locals.
I hope the Welshman does well, but my money is on Contador.
It’s also a bit of a shame that Millar has taken to Twitter, he’s a guy that I like but this is just a tad undignified.
Anyway, what size is the Cervélo?
@glynr36: They do know much
@glynr36: They do know much more than anyone here about picking a winning team – but winning isn’t everything.
Sponsors are in it for visibility – whether that comes from winning is largely immaterial. Millar and Wiggins would have guaranteed massive visibility in the UK for the Garmin, Sharp and Sky brands over the coming three weeks – let’s be honest, Froome isn’t exactly scintillating post-stage interview material.
Yes, I’m sure that Vaughters et al know much more than any of us about the best chances of winning. That needn’t stop me thinking this decision is bad entertainment and therefore bad business.
Millar probably has more
Millar probably has more experience at the front of the peloton than any rider with a shot at the tour, Voigt has more starts, but not as much success, I would only leave him out this year if I thought he couldn’t finish.
I don’t understand trade teams leaving out big names like Wiggins and millar if they have a chance.
Very sad for Millar, and he’s
Very sad for Millar, and he’s going to be missed, but I’ve got to say, if I was his team director I wouldn’t be over the moon about how readily he voices his dissatisfaction through social media.
Jonny_Trousers wrote:Very sad
He’s retiring, and has just been dropped from his final chance at riding the Tour. I doubt he gives much of a f*ck what his DS thinks at the moment.
dp24 wrote:Jonny_Trousers
True!
Jonny_Trousers wrote:dp24
True!— Jonny_Trousers
Well David was making noises about a staff role with Garmin after he finished riding, but that may now be up in smoke as well.
If it was just down to form
If it was just down to form at the nationals…Sky shouldn’t have Thomas in the team and Froome didn’t even bother with nationals, hasn’t since 2010.
If I was Millar, I would totally let rip about this, I can understand being dropped if you were unfit or injured, but Millar has known for a couple of weeks he was in the team and he’s been building up to it all season. Then overnight he gets dropped.
I think from his reaction on twitter, it could be no more races until the commonwealths and then retirement….I would not be surprised if he doesn’t pull on a Garmin jersey again
Sorry not to see David Millar
Sorry not to see David Millar in the Tour. Jens Voigt tweeted he was disappointed not to have Millar to keep him company.
Interesting to see what he gets up to in retirement and sense he could become quite influential in cycling ‘politics’.
and another Jensie
and another Jensie comment:
Maybe he should sell the
Maybe he should sell the garmin kit along with the bike. Doubt he will wear that again.
Doesnt he part own the
Doesnt he part own the team?
Comes to something when a co-owner gets dropped.
He feels he has been betrayed and whilst part of me thinks he should really know how things work i cant help thinking he has cause to be pissed off.
Leaves a bitter taste at the end of his career because its seems like he has had it with Vaughters and Wegelius – who he seemed to be bezzies with.
Yes its disappointing but as
Yes its disappointing but as mere onlookers we know nothing and have no right to comment with our minimal expertise. Maybe if comments were limited to educated thoughts about disappointments rather than trying to tell the experts what to do the thread would have more value. In the long term what would have Millar guaranteed over 3 weeks. Nothing.
mattsccm wrote:Yes its
But the entire interweb is built on comments from people who know nothing and have minimal expertise! 😉
Here’s Vaughters’ response
Twat.
Him Up North wrote:mattsccm
But the entire interweb is built on comments from people who know nothing and have minimal expertise! 😉
Here’s Vaughters’ response
Twat.— mattsccm
Yes, I’ve really been looking forward to standing on a Yorkshire roadside so that I can cheer on Ramunas Navardauskas…
You only have to remember the
You only have to remember the last sentence in Wegelius’ autobiography to see what price he (and probably Vaughters) place on sentimentality…
This would have been Millars
This would have been Millars 9th TdF in a row. Some notable teams he’s worked as part of in that time under the Vaugters-Millar partnership.
2008 – Vande Velde 5th
2009 – Wiggins 3rd (Team 2nd overall)
2010 – Hesjedal 6th
2011 – Danielson 8th (Team 1st overall)
2012 – Won Stage 12
2013 – Talansky 10th and 2nd in Young riders
No-one can say he wasn’t a team player in all the time, he always worked for whoever was the leader at the time. Vaugters have turned around and shat all over him, just because Navardauskas and Langeveld have jersey’s to show off….away tae fuck
Gkam84 wrote:No-one can say
Dave was due to ride the Tour but rode dreadfully at the nationals, just 6 days out.
No-one “shat on” him, the team have selected other riders because he is way off his best and – shock, horror! – there are other very talented (healthy) riders on the roster.
I feel for him but he’s only fooling himself (and you) if he takes it personally. Please don’t lower the tone to Sun-reading ‘football fan’ levels, Keith.
Gkam84 wrote:This would have
THIS. Plus: massive push on the CE in 2013. He would have been all over it this year for the final push, loads of TV time for the jersey.
Cav pulled out of nationals too. It’s called erring on the side of caution.
No room for sentimentality in cycling? Such rubbish. Road cycling is nothing if not sentimental, dear god.
On a happier note for the Brits: Ned Boulting is saying Simon Yates has been selected for the OGE team, which is a lovely surprise.
spin sugar wrote:No room for
It may be for you as a fan, and that’s fine. However, these people’s jobs rely on results, not grainy black & white images selling nostalgia to Mamils.
I think the squad selections
I think the squad selections show how important it is for teams to be successful at the Tour. Usually a rider would be selected for his home tour. It’s good for the rider’s morale and creates extra publicity for the team sponsors in that country.
The Tour is all about success and securing sponsorship for the future with no room for sentiment.
People complain because the
People complain because the romance and sentimentality they attach to the sport seems to be slowly fading away. That’s what is is to be a fan of a sport; a truck-loads of romance and sentimentality. We don’t have any financial interests in it (betting aside) – we just want to see our favourites fight and grimace their way to the end.
…Which is completely at odds with the way team managers are supposed to view things, and I can’t see the two alining without the cycling being reduced to a farcical two-wheeled pantomime. I’d rather the sport was clinically selective than Wrestlemania on wheels. But still, let the internet grieve. There’s a been a fair amount to come to terms with.
Toys out of pram. Petulant
Toys out of pram. Petulant tit.
Not sure what happened to
Not sure what happened to this tweet from Millarmind – deleted?
Garmin and Sharp, I love you. This is between me & @wegelius & @Vaughters & @dellisny. I just wanted you to know.
That one, along with a couple
That one, along with a couple of others that would have got most people fired from their jobs were removed shortly after posting when he had a sudden outbreak of common sense. (Or someone from the team phoned up and told him to delete them).
kevinmorice wrote:That one,
I don’t know about getting them fired, I think you’d stand a pretty good chance of defending yourself in a tribunal if your boss, who you were publicly waiting for a decision from, was tweeting about his night out in New York instead.
I fully understand that
I fully understand that cycling is a professional sport, it’s a big business that wants, and probably needs to be bigger so I also fully understand that sometimes decisions need to be made in the interests of the team. Sometimes these won’t be popular decisions but I’m still disappointed at not being able to see the riders I like, and want to see and cheer on, riding the biggest cycling race in the world. Surely we can be allowed that?
It’s also going to be highly frustrating to explain to people observing casually why certain riders aren’t there, why there are no English riders, or why there is no Wiggins, or Quintana or Dan Martin etc but that’s the way life is, Se a vida é as the Pet Shop Boys warbled in a summery fashion.
However, I do have one other thought; If sentimentality and romance is being thrown out of the window this year, then surely this means that if there is a chance of a win on the last day, no matter how slim, whichever team is chasing will be attacking like ravenous dogs in to Paris?
Forget the procession on to the Champs Elysees to allow everyone to roll in on the same time or there abouts, they should be attacking the Maillot Jaune all the way, for every stage.
farrell wrote:If
Yes – especially because the “all together behind one leader” strategy that Sky, Garmin and others are following is very foolhardy.
Sky reckon Froome needs the eight best, most committed support riders, so Wiggins is out. Garmin think the same for Talansky. It’s GC or nothing.
But this is the Tour. S**t happens. In particular: Cobbles happen. Crashes happen. Collarbones happen, and worse. And let’s be honest, drug busts happen, even if the rider has assured his DSs he’s completely clean. The chance of your star rider actually surviving to the end of the Tour are surely smaller than any other professional sport.
When this happens, all is not lost – if you have a crowd-pleaser like Wiggo or a breakaway artist like Millar. You can still get the airtime and maybe a stage victory or two. Sky and Garmin don’t have this, and I’m not convinced it will end well for them.
I suspect this could all back
I suspect this could all back fire spectacularly on Vaughters when Talansky finishes somewhere around 5 to 10 minutes behind Contador and Froome on GC. With no sprinter in the team it could be a lean Tour for Garmin, perhaps. Time will tell but the team will have lost a lot of the goodwill they get from cycling fans as the plucky underdogs / have-a-go heroes.
Like him or loathe him, at least Millar generates headlines and is always good copy for the journo’s – isn’t that what a sponsor requires? Sad way to end up for Millar, definitely not how he envisaged his farewell tour.
For a country where cycling
For a country where cycling is booming, the Tour is now bereft of a lot of the riders that the average spectator will be familiar with. That’s sad.
I guess when Dave invested in the team, there must have been an agreement that he couldn’t influence team selection in order to prevent conflict of interest.
The prospect of an old man’s breakaway featuring Jens and Dave would have made for a hell of chase. I’m disappointed.
What a shame that there isn’t
What a shame that there isn’t someone out there prepared to put a top class British team together. We have the riders, just not the will to really push British road racing forward.
As Mr Vaughters is always so
As Mr Vaughters is always so keen for cycling fans to let the sponsors know directly that they buy their products because of the sponsorship, I suggest a Scotland wide boycott of Garmin and Sharp whilst letting them know on Twitter! Sook ma plooms!
Sad for Millar, sad for
Sad for Millar, sad for British cycling fans. But – wow – how unprofessional he’s been in the past few days.
He’s been very poor this
He’s been very poor this year. I’ve seen a lot of press about hs custom shoes but nothing about his riding. He’s way, way down in the WT rankings.
Perhaps he should have called it a day last year instead.
Balls, he was in my fantasy
Balls, he was in my fantasy team!
No sympathy for Millar,its a
No sympathy for Millar,its a hard headed business and they cant run it on sentiment for an unfit 37 year old who wants a procession and a final wave off
No pity for him or Wiggins
Charly Wegelius like Dave Brailsford made intelligent unemotional decisions,it would a disaster for both teams if either rider were included
Rich71 wrote:No sympathy for
Millar and Wiggins are two completely different situations, if Wiggins had been able to move teams before the tour I’d wager that there are a good number of teams who would have snapped Sky’s arms off.
No rider could ever take on the tour as a “procession”, and you can guarantee it that Millar would still see himself doing a job and putting himself on the line for the team, no holds barred. To suggest otherwise is somewhat naive.
This thread demonstrates all
This thread demonstrates all that is great and ghastly with internet forums… love it.
I think the whole point of forums is to vent spleens, to voice uneducated opinions, so to suggest this should not happen, kind of negates the whole point of a forum!
Back on topic…. I would suggest that if Millar looks very hard in the mirror from an objective viewpoint, he will see he has been the master of his own destiny here.
Its not that Vaughters dropped him after one poor performance at the nationals, its because Millar put himself in a position where a poor ride at the nationals would be enough to for Vaughters to feel he has to drop him from the team. He has been far too anonymous all season.
This happened to me in 2010. My whole season had been built around the Tour Series, more specifically to the home round of the tour series in Exeter. I was only interested in being ready for those 5 weeks and really that one race.
Accordingly as I built my form for that event, my results up to to May that year left much reason for questioning my form. Going into my first Tour Series round (two days before my home round) I did a terrible ride, crashed three times and accordingly came no where.
The next afternoon, I was informed that I was dropped for my home round. I was gutted, furious, even more so when I had to then cancel the interview appointments I had with local media.
Looking back at it though, I put myself into a position where I could be dropped from one bad ride, and as I see it, this is the same thing here.
I am sure if included, Millar would do a sterling job; he has still produced great results in the tour when in poor form, injured and ill… but the point is, given the choice, why would a manager take that risk, when there is someone clearly in sterling form, ready and waiting to go?
Jimmy Ray Will wrote:This
See, you started so well, “uneducated opinions” etc, then managed to ruin it with a reasoned, educated opinion, and even had the cheek to back it up with directly relevant experience! God damn it.
Fucking Mint!
Yatesy is in
Fucking Mint!
Yatesy is in for OricaGreenEdge.
Proper local lad, Great news.
No, their jobs don’t rely on
No, their jobs don’t rely on results, they rely on sponsorship: prize money income is a small fraction of sponsorship income.
And sponsorship is not solely served by having the best podium placings, otherwise no French business would sponsor a team, and T-Mobile would have kept up with their sponsorship even when all the doping stuff was going on (“hey, they’re still getting the results, right?”).
It’s important, but it’s not the sole criterion.
Doctor Fegg wrote:No, their
Agreed (though I’m not sure about the T-Mobile bit).
I didn’t mean prize money, I meant doing well by whatever parameters were set in the first place. That means different things to the various teams. Although he doesn’t win very often Voeckler has done more to promote Europcar than any amount of advert airtime. However, let’s not pretend that being off the front for a bit during a stage then mincing about and finishing mid-pack is necessarily going to make a DS or sponsor happy.
What about the forgotten man
What about the forgotten man of British cycling, Steve Cummings? He hasn’t been selected either. Is he injured?
Surprised at Simon Yates’ inclusion. I assumed he was too young. And Orica select Simon why not Adam too?
I spent about half an hour
I spent about half an hour trying to win a shite Fleury Michon t-shirt at a festival last year, purely because I’d seen their name on Europcars mitts.
I later learnt they do food, so I bought some of their ham and chicken for sandwiches.
I definitely wont be putting any Garmins on my Lunch after this debacle.
Just read on twitter that
Just read on twitter that Millar will be joining ITV for the Tour. He was very informative when he was on the BBC in the past (I can’t remember if it was Ride London or World Champs).
Another reason to watch ITV over Eurosport. Boulting, Rendell, Boardman, Imlach and now Millar: probably the best presenting team in sport. Just a shame about having to put up with Phil & Paul for the commentary.
NeilG83 wrote:Just read on
Indeed. With a team like that, you have to wonder why Phil and Paul still get the commentary roles?
notfastenough wrote:NeilG83
Indeed. With a team like that, you have to wonder why Phil and Paul still get the commentary roles?— NeilG83
I think Phil & Paul work for an American network and then ITV and other English speaking networks use their feed. Probably cheaper for ITV than paying the ASO for their own commentary position.
Quote:David Millar
All seems to have sorted itself out now, shame it was done publicly.
With all the outpouring of
With all the outpouring of grief over the supposed mistreatment of Millar, please remember he is an ex drug cheat who has admitted to doping again after his suspension and then claims to be subsequently clean. In most other sports doping after an initial ban that warrants a life ban. So he has been lucky to be in any of the the last 9 tours at all.
However, he has also been public about his emotional problems and particularly his depression in the past. So the team (of which he is part owner if I recall correctly?!) should have handled it in a more professional manner and taken into account that it was likely that he would have a strong emotional reaction.
kevinmorice wrote:With all
Oooh, this is news to me,,, when and where did he dope post suspension, and where can I read more about this?
Jimmy Ray Will
Yeah, I’d like to see more info re this as well – preferably with links to a solid credible source, not a throwaway post by…someone….on a forum.
Charly Wegelius is knob….
Charly Wegelius is knob…. road worlds madrid………
leedgreen wrote:Charly
Pah… we’d have all done the same thing in their shoes.
They’d have earnt more in that day than they had for half the year.
Since then BC have rather more generous team bonuses in place for worlds success than they did back then.
leedgreen wrote:Charly
Oh dear, more Sun-reader style ‘expert’ commentary 🙁
Meanwhile the contributors to the excellent Cycling Podcast reflect on Millar’s exclusion in a blog that accompanies it:
http://thecyclingpodcast.com/Millar
The episode recorded with Millar, when he was expecting to ride the Tour, is embedded there and is well worth a listen. In the latest entry they give their Tour predictions; interestingly, two of the three predict Contador for GC!