Cycling: Cofidis drop Millar from Tour

David Millar will be dropped from the Tour de France when team Cofidis name their squad for the sport's biggest race.

Under apparent pressure from the race organisers, his French employers have decided to omit their most senior rider after the Scot was detained for questioning for 48 hours this week as part of an investigation into doping offences.

Millar, the time trial world champion, has not been charged with any offence but Cofidis are mindful of new Tour regulations, which prohibit riders involved in drugs inquiries, and have also dropped his team-mate Cedric Vasseur.

A Cofidis spokesman said: "They have been told they will not ride. We have not changed our views on the presumption of innocence. We are acting in the interests of cycling."

The pressure is on Millar, who won the time-trial world championship in Canada last year, after further allegations in the French press on Friday, which if proved could also end his Olympic hopes.

The Tour begins next Saturday without a British rider for the first time since 1976, as another Olympic hopeful, Bradley Wiggins, has also not been selected by his French team, Crédit Agricole, though for purely sporting reasons. Wiggins said: "It's not a massive disappointment. It's a goal of mine to ride the Tour, but my main aim is an Olympic gold medal."