David Millar won the first ever medal for Scotland in a Commonwealth road race at the weekend. cyclingnews has the post race quotes and add their own comment, as does the Scotsman and other outlets.

Millar, although born in Malta, and raised in Hong Kong, Scotland and England, declares himself proud of his heritage and was delighted when Scottish Cycling asked him to compete. Following a 2-year suspension some years ago, you’ll still find a broad and robust range of opinions on him on any forum or social media.

He had a good early season with a win in Three days of De Panne (overall), a strong Tour of Flanders and Criterium de Dauphiné, but there then followed a difficult Giro and Tour de France. He has come good again in the late season with silver at the Worlds TT, bronze in the Commonwealth Games road race and another chance for a medal in the TT. But individual glory aside, I feel recognition should go to the Scotland team, who worked hard for him to earn the Commonwealth bronze.

Millar was well supported with a full complement of six Team Scotland riders in the race, and he paid tribute at the finish to the work done by his teammates. In the first half of the race it was David Lines, James McCallum and Ross Creber, while Evan Oliphant and Andy Fenn were the riders assigned to support him – and be in the mix themselves – in the second half of a 168km race run off in 41-degree heat.

“I really enjoyed racing with this jersey and with this team,” said Millar. “Three of the boys were looking after me in the first half of the race, and it was Evan and Andy’s job to follow the attacks when they started coming in the second half.

“They all excelled – they were as good as my pro team. They were all very motivated and I think motivation has a big effect. I wouldn’t have got the medal without them and I’m proud of them all.

I raised an eyebrow at the ‘pro team’ comment- I believe (although I may be wrong) that Oliphant and McCallum are full-time professionals, both being experienced domestic riders of some years. Maybe he said ProTour Team and was misquoted. Nonetheless, some of the other riders are amateurs and it was a heroic performance to bury themselves in the heat of Delhi.

HATS OFF TEAM SCOTLAND
Ross Creber
Davie Lines
Andy Fenn
James McCallum
David Millar
Evan Oliphant