DAVID MILLAR, the world time-trial cycling champion and a leading medal contender for the Athens Olympic Games this summer, was released from police custody in Biarritz last night after being held in connection with an investigation into doping allegations against Cofidis, his French team.

Millar had been taken away by officers on Tuesday evening. The Scot’s agent maintained yesterday that he had been detained as a witness, and that, under French law, the police had 48 hours to question him as part of their investigation.

“Millar has been placed under investigation. He was detained on Tuesday evening at the request of investigative magistrate Richard Pallain, who is in charge of the Cofidis case, and has been released on Thursday afternoon,” a police spokesman said.

Frances Millar, the cyclist’s sister and agent, said that the police intervention had been expected. “It’s standard procedure. We knew it would happen, but we didn’t think they would wait for four months before talking to him, with just a week to go before the Tour de France starts. These are serious allegations, but David’s done nothing wrong.”

Millar was eating with friends at the Blue Cargo restaurant in Biarritz when he was taken away for questioning at 8 o’clock on Tuesday evening. The French authorities confirmed that he was taken into custody as a witness and not as a suspect.

A statement on Millar’s website said: “David was well aware that the French system worked in this way and had spoken to his lawyers about it at some length after the allegations were made. He denies any wrongdoing, though the damage this is doing to his Tour preparations will be causing him serious concern.”

François Migraine, Millar’s French sponsor, temporarily withdrew his Cofidis team from competition this spring after allegations from Philippe Gaumont, the former Cofidis rider, that members of the team used performance-enhancing products. In the weeks after Gaumont’s arrest and statements to police, eight people — including other personnel within the Cofidis team — were indicted by the French authorities.

Millar, one of Team GB’s principal contenders for a gold medal in the Athens Olympics and leader of the Cofidis team at this year’s Tour de France, which begins in Liege on July 3, has always strongly denied any allegations made against him. “This is not a Millar story,” Francis Van Londersele, his Cofidis team manager, said. “It’s the follow-up to the Gaumont affair.

“For the moment, David’s simply a witness. But it’s a shame that they waited so long to interview him. It’s good that justice has to take its course, but I would have preferred this to have happened earlier.”

The British Olympic Association (BOA) was keeping a “watching brief”, while awaiting clarification of the facts from British Cycling, the domestic governing body of the sport. “Selected athletes for Team GB are under the auspices of their national federation and David Millar remains a selected athlete,” a BOA spokesman said.