British rider David Millar says he aims to become the standard-bearer for clean cycling when he makes a return to competition in this year's Tour de France after completing a two-year drug ban.

"For some people my name will remain stained forever, but for those that can understand it I want to prove in this second stage of my career that I can be a successful and clean sportsman," Millar, who rode for Malta in the GSSE 2001, said.

"I want to show that I can compete without outside help and become an icon for clean cycling as well as an example to young people.

"There are a lot of idiots out there who think you can't win anything without drugs, but we have to convince the young generation that this isn't the case."

Millar was banned for two years and stripped of his gold medal from the 2003 time trial world championships after he admitted taking the banned endurance booster erythropoietin (EPO) in 2001 and 2003.

He had been questioned by French police before the Tour de France in 2004 as part of an investigation into doping in his Cofidis team.

"I suffered interrogation for two days and I'm not going to deny that there was pressure from the police, but in the end the decision to confess was my own."

Millar added that during his ban he had been working with young cyclists in the British Federation to show them the sport can be clean.

The 29-year-old time-trial specialist, who has signed for the Saunier Duval team, said he would return to competition in the Tour de France shortly after his ban ends on June 23.

The Tour de France begins in Strasbourg on July 1.