Thanks for the links Nigel. My interest in pro cycling has been occassional and fairly fleeting but I do find it fascinating. Coupled with the fact that I've hauled my frame up the likes of Galibier on more than one occassion.
The Millar story encapsulates both the politics and the team nature of cycling which can only be fully understood by following one of the major tours I think.
I read Rough Ride by Paul Kimmage a few years ago which gives you a pretty honest account of the sport from the inside and how cyclists close ranks when their methods are threatened.
I think the combination of exceptional physical demands coupled with professionalism and sporting glory will always lead to the same, sorry place on occassion. For us Brits that place is part-way up Ventoux. Surely the most legendary of ascents on Le Tour.
I guess The Tour is just part circus / part sporting event.
On the running front I don't know much about Steve Ovette, although I used to watch all the races. Peter Elliot was certainly somebody I knew more about and he probably stood in starker contrast to Seb Coe. He was a working class Yorkshireman and had to fit his training around a job (can't remember what: in a steel mill or down a pit or some such). They were great times in athletics.
Conveniently the front-mech has seized on my road bike. That tells you all you need to know.
