Illustration: Niv Bavarsky via The New York Times

Like a supernova of the peloton, David Millar went from hero to zero and back again, riding the doping rollercoaster to the top of the sport before derailling and crashing off the highest part of the track with his positive tests in the early 2000s.

Coming clean, confession and contrition saw him not only regain his standing as a respected and well-liked rider, but also garnered him a new role as a leading advocate of anti-doping which brought even more respect from those who had written him off as just another unrepentant cheat, myself included.

Now, Millar has penned a brutally frank essay in the New York Times titled How to Get Away with Doping which delves deeper into the territory of TUEs and the methods which top riders even today use to bend the rules to breaking point, and beyond.