David Millar was a surprise omission from the Garmin-Sharp squad for the Tour de France as the Brit was widely tipped to be lining up for a farewell Tour in his final season as a professional. Saddened by the news, he claims to have already been selected and that only his honesty made his team management change its mind.

David Millar is in his final year as a professional bike rider and was looking forward to a final participation in the Tour de France this summer. With the race starting in Leeds, it would be the perfect opportunity for him to wave goodbye to a race that has played a big role in his long career.

Last week Millar joked about his selection for the race on Twitter.

"Last time leaving home to race Nationals/TdF. More hectic than ever. Note to thieving bastards, our house is occupied/watched ALL the time," he wrote on Twitter before adding. "Shit. Don't think I was supposed to say I was doing the TdF. Sorry [sports director Charly] @wegelius. I'm an idiot."

Yesterday it came out that he had been omitted from the Garmin-Sharp roster for the race, with the team claming that illness had forced them to leave their veteran at home. In an interview with Cyclingnews, Millar reveals that he has indeed been sick which caused him to underperform at Nationals but that he had already been promised a spot on the roster.

In fact he claims that his honesty ended up costing him a chance to say goodbye to the Tour.

"I'm massively disappointed, saddened and angry at my team, basically, that they didn't trust the fact that I would do my job at the Tour," he said "The bottom line is, if I’d lied to them and not told them I’d got a bit of a cough, then I’d be at the Tour.

"I told them I was a little bit sick, I went to the Nationals – paying for it myself – and to rest up a little bit in between the races, because I'd knackered myself out training hard after the Dauphiné and things were a bit stressful because my house had been burgled [during the Dauphiné.]"

Millar told the team about his chest infection ahead of the time trial and planned not to start the race. However, his team told him that it would "create a situation" and so he decided to take the start. In Sunday's road race, he chose to abandon as he thought that his spot on the roster had already been secured.

However, the team had changed its mind without letting him know.

"It was made clear to me there that I would have to race well at the Nationals to make sure of the Tour place, which I thought I had already been given," he said.

Millar is now expected to focus on the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in late July.