14 Jun 2012

Millar shortlisted for Olympics

7:17 am on 14 June 2012

David Millar, who admitted doping in 2004, has been included in an eight-man shortlist of riders for Britain's road team at the London Olympics.

Four-times Olympic champion Chris Hoy was named in the men's track sprint team along with Jason Kenny although the decision as to which of the pair will take the only spot in the individual event has yet to be decided.

Kenny beat Hoy in the semi-finals of the individual sprint at the world championships earlier this year and went on to take the silver medal after being relegated in the second round of the final for an illegal move against opponent Gregory Bauge of France.

Millar was cleared to compete in the Games after the British Olympic Association's lifetime ban on drug cheats was declared invalid by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in April.

The 35-year-old was banned for two years from 2004 to 2006 after admitting taking the blood booster EPO.

The other riders on the list, which will be reduced to five for the Games, were world champion Mark Cavendish, Bradley Wiggins, Steve Cummings, Chris Froome, Jeremy Hunt, Ian Stannard and Ben Swift.

Olympic champion Nicole Cooke heads the six-strong women's road squad from which four will be selected to compete.

World and Olympic champion Victoria Pendleton is joined in the women's sprint team by Jessica Varnish, the cyclist she set a then-team sprint world record with in February.