Robert Millar Biography

Robert Millar is Britain’s most successful Tour de France rider. During his career, he won the King of the Mountains competition (best climber) in 1984 and finished 4th overall.

Born in 1958, he was raised in Glasgow, where he was likely to have gone to work in a factory. However, as Scotland’s top amateur cyclist, he was able to make the difficult jump into becoming a European based pro. Riding for top teams such as Peugoet, Panasonic, Fagor and TVM.

He achieved many top placings in races such as Liege bastogne Liege (3rd) and winning Dauphine Libere in 1990. He also won stages in the Tour De France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta Espagne.

His career as a cyclist was very impressive. He was renowned for being quite short with journalists; he was a cyclist who did not seem to revel in the ‘celebrity’ aspect of being a pro cyclist.

In Robert Moore’s book – In Search of Robert Millar, Moore investigates the complex personality of Robert Millar and delves into aspects of his personal life. It is a sympathetic and fascinating portrait and Moore was able to interview Millar through email which forms part of the eiplogue. It is a fascinating read and gives much more detail about what made Robert Millar the person he is as well as the cyclist Millar.

Robert Millar retired in 1995, after the collapse of le Groupement (which ironically, Graeme Obree another Scottish cyclist, joined very temporarily. However, in recent years he has cut off his connections with the sport preferring to live in anonymity.

Newspaper reports suggested that Robert Millar underwent a sex change operation. These reports have not been confirmed and Robert Millar appears keen to keep a low profile.

British Cyclists