After David Millar has finally made up his mind to hang up the bike with the end of 2014 season, what was announced by the esteemed Scot in the mid October, all his attention has turned into the desire to leave the best possible impression after what is expected to be his final year as a professional cyclist.

“I want to race well and finish being professional at my best,” David Millar told Cyclingnews.

Concerning such ambitions, the preparations to the upcoming season were planned to kick off very early. Unfortunately Millar, one of the most successful British cyclist to date, was forced to change his initial schedule due to a domestic accident that occurred this month.

“I’ve had to be very careful [about training] since the accident happened... I went into an old house and walked through a very small doorway and knocked myself out. It was the uncoolest thing I’ve ever done. It was so annoying,” Millar recalls.

Millar has had a exceptional career since he won the opening time trial of the 2000 Tour de France. His image was tainted when he served a two-year ban for EPO use but returned as one of the strongest anti-doping voices in the professional peloton. He continued to deliver strong results after his comeback and won stages in both the Tour and Vuelta and finished 2nd in the 2010 world time trial championships. He also became, alongside Sir Bradley Wiggins, the only British cyclist to lead in all the Grand Tours to date.

According to Cyclingnews, Scot’s final season as a professional cyclist should kick off in an early February with his participation in Mallorca Challenge, followed by racing in Tirreno – Adriatico.

Then, Millar aims to have a fruitful spring classics campaign, when he intends to participate in all major races of the period - “as many as I can” – then Bayern Rundfahrt and the Criterium du Dauphiné as his build up to, he hopes, one last Tour de France.

The Tour de France 2014, running from July 5-27, partially overlaps with the Commonwealth Games taking place on Millar’s home soil, an event the was initially seen as a proper occasion to bid farewell. Fortunately, both the Game’s time trial and a road race do not collide with  le Grande Boucle, what leaves all the possibilities opened for Garmin – Sharp cyclist.

“It feels like the end of an era. I want to leave the team with them feeling I did well and was a good rider,” Millar sums up his expectations concerning an upcoming season.