MILLAR TO GO ON TRIAL IN FRANCE

David Millar has served his two-year ban for doping but now faces a trial in France along with other riders and staff from the Cofidis team.

According to a report from French news agency AFP, Millar will go before the courts in the Paris suburb of Nanterre between November 6 and 10.

Millar?s former team mates Massimiliano Lelli, Philippe Gaumont, Robert Sassone and Mederic Clain will also go on trial, as will Marek Rutkiewicz, Daniel Majewski, masseur Boguslaw Madejak, sporting director Oleg Kozlitine and Parisian pharmacist Pierre Ben Yamin. They are all suspected of breaking laws related to doping and poisonous substances.

The investigation rocked the Cofidis team during the spring of 2004 and Millar was arrested in June. He admitted using EPO three times outside of France and was eventually banned by the British Cycling Federation for two years. He made his comeback this summer at the Tour de France.

The investigation has lasted more than three years because a police officer involved was put on trail for falsifying a statement by French rider Cederic Vasseur. He was found guilty on May 16. The offices and homes of several journalists from the L?Equipe newspaper were also searched after the leaking of information during the investigation.

Under the current UCI Ethics Code, a rider facing a trial is not allowed to race in the month beforehand. However Saunier Duval team manager Mauro Gianetti is convinced Millar will be able to ride next Saturday?s Tour of Lombardy because the Cofidis investigation began before the introduction of the ethics code.