David Millar (Cofidis) who was expected to ride well in this year's Tour de France, will not ride it at all. On Friday, Millar confessed to EPO use after French police took him into custody and interrogated him in Biarritz. Police also searched the Scot's home and found vials of EPO.

Millar's interrogation came as part of the Cofidis investigation. Initially, Cofidis manager Francis Van Londersele stated that the police were questioning Millar as a witness in the Philippe Gaumont affair, but after Millar was released, sources close to the investigation said that he would be placed under investigation. The news of the Scot's confession was released after Millar was.

Millar is the ninth person placed in custody or under investigation as a result of the Cofidis affair. The others are Bogdan Madejak, Oleg Kozlitine, Daniel Majewski, Marek Rutkiewicz, Robert Sassone, Philippe Gaumont, Mederic Clain, and Cedric Vasseur. Cofidis has fired Clain and has allowed Vasseur to race. (The latter has maintained his innocence.)

Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc has told "the directors of the teams concerned that we didn't wish to have riders implicated in doping investigations [at the Tour]." Millar joins a lengthening list of unwelcome riders. In addition to those implicated in the Cofidis investigation, Fabio Sacchi (Fassa Bortolo), Eddy Mazzoleni and Danilo Di Luca (both from Saeco), and Alessio Galletti and Mario Scirea (both from Domina Vacanze) will watch the Tour de France on television because they are under investigation. What will the additional consequences be? Check in at http://www.roadcycling.com/ and find out! 

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