By Tom Degun in New Delhi

David_MillarOctober 14 - David Millar, the self-confessed former drug cheat, made history as he became the first Scottish rider ever to win a gold medal in a road cycling event at the Commonwealth Games.


The 33-year-old former Cofidis rider, who picked up a bronze in the 168 kilometres road race three days ago, finished the 40km race in 47min 18.66sec as he continues on the road to redemption following his infamous drugs ban.

Millar, who has won three stages of the Tour de France, was banned from competing in the sport for two years in 2004 after admitting taking the banned substance Erythropoietin (EPO) for a lengthy period of time, including when he was crowned world time trial champion in 2003, a title he was subsequently stripped.

Millar returned from his ban the week before the 2006 Tour de France and managed to finish 59th out of 139 riders in the prestigious race.

He then slowly began to get back to the top level, this time without the use of drugs.

After taking silver in the time trial in the World Road Championships in Geelong last month, Millar's double medal success in Delhi - in a year in which he has competed in the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana - shows he is slowly putting his dark past in the sport behind him.

Millar said: "It's been my big goal all year, it feels great.

"It was hard. It was like being on a treadmill in a sauna.

"It's the first chance I've ever had to ride for Scotland, so it was quite emotional on the podium.

"When you're so focused on the event you forget why you do it, and why it's so important to you.

"But when I was standing on the podium and the flag was going up, and the whole team was standing in front of me, singing Flower of Scotland, it hit home what it meant to me."

Millar cannot compete for Britain in the Olympics because of his drugs ban but he was given special dispensation by Commonwealth Games Scotland to compete in Delhi and admitted he was proud to do so.

"I've lived all over the place my whole life, but I am Scottish," he said.

"My heart's in Scotland."

In the women's 29km time trial, Canada's Tara Whitten grabbed gold, with New Zealand's Linda Villumsen and England's Julia Shaw in bronze.

The 45-year-old Shaw said: "I thought about stopping last year but my coach persuaded me to keep on going and said I had a chance here.

"When we discovered the course out here was very flat we thought it might be a good time for me to try and get into the squad.

"I had no idea what to expect out here.

"As the race was happening I didn't really know how I was doing.

"I just tried to keep going."

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September 2010:
Millar puts past behind him with world time trial silver
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December 2009: Millar doping ban lifted for New Delhi
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June 2009: Millar could challenge BOA drugs ban