Cavendish: Millar's Olympic ban should be overturned

He was a key component in Great Britain's success at the 2011 Road World Championships in Copenhagen, where he was part of the team that delivered Mark Cavendish to victory. But as things stand, David Millar will be unable to compete at the London 2012 Olympics due to the lifetime ban imposed on him by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for his positive dope test in 2004.

The BOA's strict stance is at odds with WADA guidelines and with the rest of the world, and Cavendish has spoken out in defence of Millar, who has been a prominent anti-doping campaigner over the last few years. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) are set to rule on the BOA's ban early next year. Cavendish, who was recently crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year, stated that Millar has served his punishment and needs to be part of the lineup in London if Great Britain are to win gold in the road race. Millar's strengths are obvious and would certainly be invaluable to the team. The 35-year-old is the only British rider to wear the leader's jersey in all three Grand Tours, and his all-round ability has seen him don all three major jerseys in the Tour de France.

"Dave has redeemed himself. I would love him to be at London 2012," Cavendish told the BBC. "He cheated but he has realised what he did and learned a lot. He's a massive anti-doping campaigner. He's a good friend of mine and an incredible bike rider - incredible.

"If we want to win the Olympic road race, we need Dave. If you want to win and make history, you need a group of people around you. As with Copenhagen, there couldn't have been anybody else I would rather have been with than those seven guys and everybody else that worked so hard to get us there. It's the same with London. There are certain people I would want to share that with and Dave's one of them."