Cycling: Brilliant Miller win sours

By Suzanne McFadden

Graeme Miller is calling it the greatest victory in his 20-year international career, but he will have to wait three months to see if Cycling New Zealand agrees.

Miller returned home to Auckland last night after winning the final stage of the Tour Down Under in South Australia, outsprinting some of the best names in world road cycling.

But the win for the 38-year-old Miller was tainted by his omission from the newly formed New Zealand elite cycling squad. That means he is not entitled to funding.

Miller, double gold medallist at the 1990 Commonwealth Games, labelled his omission "age discrimination" and questions what more he has to do to win favour with the selectors.

He won the 120km stage of the tour, overtaking Tour de France points jersey winner Erik Zabel in the sprint for the line. He was second in another stage, pipped by Zabel after crashing 7km from the finish.

Also in the tour field, which Miller described as a "mini Tour de France," was last year's world No 1 professional, Laurent Jalabert, and half-a-dozen of Europe's top pro teams.

"Surely I should be funded now. Every time I get up to the plate I have a good old bat at it," he said. "And this was the biggest win in my career.

"But in 20 years of racing, I still have to prove myself 30-fold to the selectors. I get more kudos from professional teams in the United States and the rest of the world, and get nothing here at home."

Only three road riders were named in the elite squad on New Year's Day - Commonwealth Games silver medallist Susy Pryde, Scott Guyton and Warren Clark, 36th at last year's world under-23 championships.

New Zealand convener of selectors Gordon Sharrock said the country's male road riders needed "a big jolt" after the disappointment at last year's Commonwealth Games.

"It was New Zealand's worst performance in 50 years. If we were selecting an Olympic team from last year's performances, we would be pushing it to get one man there. We're looking at reality, not maybes."

But Sharrock said riders could be added to the squad every three months - the next review comes after the road nationals in April.

Miller, who leaves for the Tour of Langkawi in Malaysia on Friday before riding for professional United States team Shaklee, says he is determined not to retire until after the Sydney 2000 Olympics.