David Millar's troubled season has taken a turn for the worse just days before the start of the Tour de France after it emerged the British cycling world champion has been detained by French police as part of a drugs investigation.
The 27-year-old, who rides for the French team Cofidis, was placed in police custody while he was dining at a restaurant in Biarritz, where he is based, on Tuesday night.
A local judge authorised the police to detain him for 48 hours as a witness in the investigation into claims that Millar and other Cofidis riders had taken performance-enhancing drugs.
The Scot - who has strongly denied the allegations and has never failed a drugs test - is being treated as a witness, not a suspect, and is expected to be released tonight.
The authorities began investigating Cofidis in March and, while the decision to detain him was not unexpected, the fact that it was made four months into the case is a surprise.
The allegations first surfaced when Millar's French team-mate Philippe Gaumount admitted taking the banned substance EPO. Gaumont also accused Millar and other Cofidis team-mates of having taken banned substances.
A subsequent police investigation into Cofidis' affairs saw seven of their riders - including Gaumont - charged with doping offences.
All have since either left or been sacked while team manager Alain Bondue and the team doctor Jean-Jacques Menuet, who was named in leaked transcripts of police interviews, resigned in early May.
PA