A veteran of 12 previous Tours de France, the 2014 edition is set to be David Millar’s last before he retires from professional cycling at the end of this season.

A four-time individual stage winner and one-time victor in the team time trial, the 37-year-old Scot is one of only a handful of British riders to have worn the race leader’s yellow jersey as well as being the first cyclist from these shores to have worn the leader’s jersey in all three Grand Tours.

The Garmin-Sharp rider has experienced the highs and lows of professional cycling. Banned for two years in 2004 after admitting taking performance-enhancing drugs, Miller has become the most high-profile anti-doping campaigner in the peloton but his controversial past led to considerable debate when he was named in Britain’s Olympic team for London 2012.

Miller, who was named GB’s captain for the road race, was unable to help guide Ongar’s Mark Cavendish to Olympic glory, as he had done at the 2011 World Championships, but few taking the start line in Leeds in just under three weeks time will be able to rival his experience or first-hand knowledge of the race.