No Goodbyes: David Millar's Grand Tour finalé

"There aren’t many people to say goodbye to because most of my friends in the bunch have gone now." David Millar tells Cycle Sport when we catch up with him at the Vuelta a Espana. VDV [Christian Vande Velde], Stuey [O’Grady], Brad McGee, there was that kind of group and they were my best friends from that era. They’ve remained friends and of course Ryder [Hesjedal], thankfully Ryder is still here. But really, the idea of saying goodbye — it’s not like that amongst pro riders, it’s not like that at all.”

Now in a more philosophical mode — the interview was conducted alfresco with a caña to hand – Millar reflected: “It’s just a professional sport and people come and go. When you’re young you think everything’s possible and it’ll last forever and then you get to that peak. Then the longer you hang around, the more you realise how transient it is and you begin to see that you are just another small part of the history of the sport, that every era is constantly in flux, there is no permanence."

“I’m just pleased that I’ve been able to have my name in there, in the tradition, now,” Millar continued. “And I see that I’m very lucky to have been able to do that because so many pros finish their careers and just disappear and have no mark, no wins that people might remember."

Read the full feature on David Millar in the November edition of Cycle Sport magazine, on sale now priced £4.75. Cycle Sport is available in good newsagents and supermarkets and to download via iTunes, Google Play, Zinio and on Kindle Fire and Nook devices via the app stores.

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