Millar's Mission of Cleanliness Hits the Road in Qatar

Confirmation this week that David Millar will join a strong British entry to the Giro d'Italia adds a sense of urgency to his season's start tomorrow at the six-day Tour of Qatar. Millar, who is in his third season of racing after a drugs ban in 2004, has never started competing so early and has never done so with such missionary purpose - this will be his first race for Slipstream-Chipotle, the American team founded by Jonathan Vaughters which he has helped launch into the major league.

Millar has a financial stake in the team as part of the deal he signed last March. "It made me feel committed, it seemed appropriate that, if we were going on a mission, I should get involved to that degree. I have added responsibility." He said that it could pave the way for an eventual move into team management when he retires.

That is not all that is new this year for the 31-year-old, whose first major target is the Paris-Nice in mid-March. His Giro debut will come two months later, alongside the Olympic squad members Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish, Geraint Thomas and Steve Cummings, who are to ride as part of their preparation for the Games in Beijing. Millar also has a new trainer, the Dutchman Adrie van Diemen.

After another winter of doping-related crises within cycling, it is, however, Slipstream-Chipotle's ethical stance that is raising eyebrows. Millar helped Vaughters set up the team on the basis that it will race "clean" rather than attempt to win at all costs. As cycling's most-high profile reformed doper, he is uniquely placed to so.

Last season Slipstream introduced an independently monitored blood and urine screening system to assess the riders. While the Tour de France and Giro organizers are enthusiastic, and the International Cycling Union's head of anti-doping, Anne Gripper, gave her seal of approval by visiting the team last year, the approach is not being welcomed in all quarters. The banned Tour de France winner Floyd Landis claimed that Slipstream's stance "immediately accuses everyone who finishes ahead of you of doping".

Although the Slipstream message may take a while to get through to some, the Scot maintained that cycling is changing. "There has been a tipping point. Economics are forcing it now. Teams won't get sponsors unless they have a pro-active stance in the fight against doping. That's the only way 80-90% of teams will change."

He believes the sport will have a new image by the time he retires, probably in 2012. "Even if there are two or three clean years now, there are still guys with skeletons in their closets and those can come out at any time as we've seen. It will be 2010, 2011, a couple of years. We have to wait for a certain generation to go."