7. Robert Millar
7. Robert Millar
In an era where few British cyclists – let alone British climbers – were rarer than hen’s teeth at the Tour de France, Robert Millar became the first homegrown rider to be crowned King of the Mountains at any Grand Tour when he won the polka dot jersey at the 1984 Tour.
And the Scot repeated the feat at the Giro d’Italia three years later en-route to finishing second overall, with no British rider topping the King of the Mountains classification in a Grand Tour since.
What made Millar’s achievements all the more remarkable was the fact he established himself as one of the top climber’s in the peloton with little support from his team and, at times, the rest of the peloton, with the 1985 Vuelta a Espana, where Millar finished second overall, a case in point.
Millar was leading the race ahead of the penultimate stage (and the last mountain stage), when he punctured, chased back on to the riders placed second and third overall, who shook his hand only for Millar to find out Pedro Delgado, who started the day sixth overall, had gone off the front and went on to take enough time to displace Millar as champion. The race is now referred to as ‘The Stolen Vuelta’ because of the the collusion among Spanish-speaking riders, who refused to chase down Delgado’s break.
Despite this, Millar, whose palmares includes stage wins at all three Grand Tours, also rode admirably on behalf of others, pacing Ronan Pensec on Alpe d’Huez at the 1990 Tour de France to defend the maillot jaune, while the rest of his team-mates were assigned to support the team leader, and eventual winner, Greg Lemond.
At a time when the odds were stacked firmly against a Brit on the continent, Millar showed immense grit and resilience in the mountains to become one of the finest climbers of his generation.
Career highlights: King of the Mountains at the Tour de France (1984) and Giro d’Italia (1987), runner-up at the Giro d’Italia (1987) and twice runner-up at the Vuelta a Espana (1986 and 1986).