Cycling: Brit Defends Cofidis Ahead of Track World Cup

As he begins his bid to become the first British athlete to take two gold medals at one Olympic Games, Britain's top cyclist David Millar has passionately defended his team, Cofidis, in the face of drugs allegations that have surfaced during a police inquiry.

Speaking after a training session for the track World Cup, which begins today, Millar said: "What makes me angry is that people talk about a 'Cofidis affair'. That's a load of rubbish."

"It's clear to me. There are three or four people in the team who have been complete idiots, but if you go into any work-place environment you will find three or four people who do stupid things, take risks. It's scary how a few idiots can put everyone's jobs in danger."

Police have placed eight people under formal notice of investigation: the former Cofidis cyclists Marek Rutkiewicz and Robert Sassone, the current team members Philippe Gaumont, Cédric Vasseur and Médéric Clain, a physio called Bogdan Madejak, the former professional Oleg Kozlitin, and an amateur, Daniel Majewski.

Millar remains convinced that the inquiry is restricted to individuals rather than implying collective wrongdoing. If the latter were the case, he says, French police would have extended their investigation further. "It makes me very frustrated and angry when newspapers say there have been police monitoring us for months, listening to all our phone calls. If that was the case, they'd have raided our homes, stopped our cars."

He feels that Vasseur, who was placed under formal investigation on drugs charges a week ago, has not been treated justly. "He is being charged on the ground that they have found cocaine in his hair. One test showed it, a second did not. He was charged before the second test. It's total rubbish."

Millar also has harsh words for Gaumont, who was sacked from the squad after being placed under investigation and has alleged in a series of newspaper interviews that doping practices in the sport are widespread. The Scot describes him as a "total idiot who should have left the team four years ago".

"I don't understand anything. I was one of the guys who wanted him to stay on the team because he seemed to have changed so much. He seemed a lot more stable. He's a nutter, but what's dangerous is that he's very gifted at manipulating people; at the moment he seems to be manipulating the judge, the police and the press.

"He's been sending messages to the directeur sportif of the team, saying he'll bring the team down, and he's known this directeur sportif since he was 12 years old. This guy has looked after him, and he's behaving like a absolute lunatic. It's guerilla warfare against the team."

Millar will ride the team pursuit in the British round of the season-long track World Cup tomorrow as his introduction to international track racing. It is a vital step on his route to Athens, where he is intending to race the individual pursuit, in spite of a lack of experience, and the time-trial, in which he is the world champion.

"To win two golds in one games is a huge challenge - no British athlete has done it before, although Seb Coe came close. It's something I'm really passionate about. It's the only chance I'll get in my career, and I can see something that's huge and highly possible. It would be a reference point for the rest of my career. The idea of people coming to follow me at the Tour de France as an Olympian is incredible."

Since the start of this year, he has been trained by Peter Keen, the mastermind behind Chris Boardman's string of Olympic and world championship medals, which began with individual pursuit gold at Barcelona in 1992. Boardman is also involved, but not as closely as Keen.

Millar is clearly excited by the prospect of the weekend. "I've never done a major international race on the track before, so I have to immerse myself in as much information as I can in the three days. It's about being in the environment, riding the track when there are other guys on it. It's what you might call getting the idiot's guide." It is, he says, like "a breath of fresh air", after professional racing on the road, which is understandable given the pressure currently bearing on his pro team.

The three-day World Cup meeting opens here today with the main British interest lying with Paul Manning in the men's individual pursuit, Craig Maclean in the kilometre time-trial, where he qualifies ahead of Britain's Olympic champion Jason Queally due to his spectacular time in last year's national title, and Victoria Pendleton in the women's sprint.