Early Career
In his first professional season, Millar won the prologue of the Tour de l'Avenir and the competition for the best young rider in the Mi-Août Breton. He profited from his background in 10-mile time-trials in Britain to win the first stage of the 2000 Tour de France, a 16 km time-trial at Futuroscope. He held the yellow jersey for a few days. He failed to repeat his feat at Dunkirk in 2001 after puncturing in a bend and crashing. He finished fifth in the prologue in 2002 on a rolling course at Luxembourg. His attempt to win the prologue in central Paris in the centenary Tour of 2003 ended when his chain dropped off 500 m before the finish. He lost by 0.14 s to Brad McGee. Millar had ridden a bike without a front derailleur. He blamed his directeur sportif, Alain Bondue. "It wasn't a problem with my chainring; it was a problem with my team," he told journalists at the finish. He said Bondue had tried to save a few grams by removing the derailleur. Bondue said he had told Millar to use a front derailleur after other riders had similar problems. Bondue was demoted to logistics manager.
Hopes of winning the Tour de France were fuelled by his stage win in the 2001 Vuelta a España, when he was in a breakaway with Santiago Botero on a mountain stage. However, Millar said that if he were to go for a Tour win, it would be only if he were certain of winning, not simply to do well.
Millar won a gold medal for Malta in the 2001 Games of the Small States of Europe, held in San Marino. Millar was selected for the Scotland team for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, but withdrew to compete for Cofidis instead.
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