For the latest episode of the BikeRadar Podcast, I sat down with former pro road racing star, David Millar.
With national titles and multiple Grand Tour stage victories on his palmares, Millar established himself as one of Britain’s best-known cyclists across a 17-year career.
Since retiring in 2014, he has split his time between running his brand, CHPT3, working as a journalist and pundit, and as a co-commentator on ITV’s coverage of the Tour de France.
Almost a decade after he retired, I chatted with Millar about his new role as brand director at Factor, what's next for its bikes, and why efforts to change the sport’s business model will face a lot of hurdles.
I also asked him for his take on the issue of safety in pro cycling, after I recently argued that banning time trial bikes could help make the sport safer and fairer.
Perhaps unsurprisingly (given he was one of Britain's best chrono riders during his career), Millar baulked at the idea that pros shouldn't be allowed to use TT bikes. His thoughts on whether amateurs or junior riders should keep riding them were more nuanced, though.
To listen to the full conversation, tune into the BikeRadar Podcast wherever you get your fix, or keep reading for highlights from the conversation.
What makes Factor Bikes special
Simon: Tell us about your role at Factor, David. I understand you’re brand director…
David: I didn’t join as brand director, I joined because when I closed CHPT3, Rob Gitelis [founder of Factor Bikes] gave me a call the next day and said “Don’t worry, I’ll hire you”.
And then the role has just morphed into this quite quickly.
Simon: What’s your day-to-day role?
David: It’s a bit like a marketing role, but it’s also strategic. It’s going in and looking at the company and getting a unified vision – that already exists, but hasn’t necessarily been communicated… And then working on a marketing strategy to communicate that through different content channels.
Rob and Calvin [Chan], the CEO, have given me a lot of free rein to cut loose, and it’s been wonderful because I’ve known Factor since 2015, since Rob started. My first bike out of pro cycling was the original Factor [the Vis Vires, launched in June 2013].
Simon: When Factor first came on the market, it came with a really innovative bike – the Vis Vires – which was an aero bike at a time when people were still really focused on weight. Since then, the bikes have evolved to become a bit more mainstream… is that just the commercial realities of making bikes?
David: I don’t think they’ve gone ‘mainstream’, because they are – by the standards of the cycling world – still pretty boutique in the sense that they [Factor] own their own factories. They’re kind of artisan at a very big scale, and very advanced.
Rob Gitelis has a history that goes back to the mid-90s in Taiwan. He was a former pro bike racer with a degree in chemical engineering, and when he went to the Tour of Taiwan in 1996, he realised he wasn’t going to be a top pro, so he stayed there and got a job.
By the mid-2000s, he was basically the pioneer of carbon fibre bike manufacturing, and was doing it for some of the biggest brands in the world.
12 years ago, he made the decision he was going to take a punt and do it himself.
The bikes may appear commercial in the sense that they have a wider audience, but they’re still incredibly innovative.
Rob’s a mad man when it comes to making the best bikes in the world… They [Factor] only make pinnacle bikes – they refuse to go mid-range, which I’d say is commercial.
Simon: Is that just a commitment to values?
David: It’s definitely values. To go back to Rob, his passion is engineering, and the challenge of improving and pushing the envelope.
Where next for Factor?
Simon: We’ve had something of a resurgence of aero bikes recently – I’m thinking of the Colnago Y1RS and the new Ridley Noah, for example.
Obviously, Factor has the Ostro VAM [its aero road bike], which is both aero and light, but do you think, with the introduction of the O2 VAM [the brand’s lightweight climbing bike] there’s room for the Ostro to become more of a dedicated aero road bike?
David: The Ostro VAM already is the fastest road bike in the world – it’s been independently tested – but they will continue pushing the envelope.
They just designed the Hanzo Track for the Australian Olympic team, and they broke the world record and won [gold, in the men’s team pursuit at the 2024 Paris Olympics] because of that bike.
That was two years of development to make that bike, and they’re going to be transferring some of that tech, no doubt, because they’ve learned so much from that.
But all of Factor’s projects tend to bleed into one another, and they tend to look at challenges and ‘what do the riders need?’ rather than ‘oh, they’re doing aero bikes, so we should do an aero bike’.
It’s more ‘what’s the course like?’, ‘what’s missing?’, ‘what would the rider need?’.
Safety in pro cycling
Simon: One of the things I want to ask you about, as a former pro racer, is your take on safety in pro cycling – that’s been in the news a lot recently.
Christian Prudhomme [the director of the Tour de France] said something, then your former team manager, Jonathan Vaughters responded… and I understand you represented the CPA [the riders' union] in developing the UCI’s extreme-weather protocol.
What’s your take on that issue?
David: I think the elephant in the room is that cycling is an inherently dangerous sport, it’s never going to be zero risk, and there are so many complications to it.
We’re not on a motor racing circuit. In the 1970s, when they started to realise it [motorsport] was too dangerous, they could change the course, change the circuits, change the cars… In bike races, we can’t do that because you’re talking about 200 kilometres of open roads, and then you’ve got the weather.
The biggest issue is the fact you have 180 racers and it’s the human condition.
We can put all kinds of limits and restrictions [in place], but the bottom line is you’ve still got human beings out there who are racers, who have got a lot at stake, who are effectively dedicating that part of their lives to chasing the wins and they’re going to take risks.
I think it’s really important we’re having this dialogue, and it’s open and not controversial.
Simon: Most people listening to this podcast will know you were a very accomplished time trial rider.
I really like time trial bikes because they’re great fun – they’re really fast. But they’re also inherently dangerous, especially for amateurs who race on public roads.
Cycling Canada also just banned the use of TT bikes for juniors, on egalitarian grounds.
How do you feel about the continuing use of time trial bikes in the sport?
David: I love time trial bikes, I think they’re great. If we remove them from the sport, it would be a huge step backwards, because I think they look cool.
At an amateur level, on open roads, that’s a big question mark – especially with the way positions are becoming more and more ‘head tuck’.
‘Head tuck’ is fine on closed roads, with a following car and a radio so they can tell you what’s coming.
But on an open road, I would definitely be open to saying that shouldn’t be allowed.
For juniors, 100 per cent [they shouldn't be allowed], because a modern time trial bike is an insane performance advantage, and, as you say, they’re so expensive.
Why the ASO controls road cycling
Simon: There’s been a lot of discussion recently about One Cycling and calendar reform. Obviously, you’ve been around the sport for a long time, and now you’re joining Factor, which sponsors a WorldTour team.
Do you think the current model for pro cycling is sustainable, and does it work out for a brand such as Factor?
David: I think there is no business model to professional cycling – there simply isn’t.
It's wild that a team can spend 40 million [Euros] and have no revenue. I don’t think there’s another sport like that, except the America’s Cup, maybe.
One big problem with professional cycling is that the Tour de France is professional cycling, and the Tour de France is owned by ASO [the Amaury Sport Organisation], and effectively ASO owns the sport.
All these high plans, these big money races and one day’s [races], we saw Velon try… if you haven’t got ASO on board, and the Tour de France, then the business model doesn’t change.
For more of Millar’s thoughts on this topic, check out this feature: "Pro cycling has no business model" – David Millar
More gravel in the WorldTour?
Simon: Gravel [riding] has seen enormous growth on BikeRadar over the last few years, but there are people who say ‘gravel shouldn’t be in the Tour de France'. I wonder if bike companies feel pro road cycling should be embracing that side of things a bit more…
David: I think it is embracing it, but it’s a completely different model to road racing – it’s a participation event.
It's getting higher and higher performance, but the reason people are enjoying it more is because they feel it's safer, it’s more fun.
I think in the States, in North America in particular, gravel is getting so big because road racing – much like the UK – has just died a thousand deaths and, in direct correlation to that, gravel is expanding.
But road will always be the pinnacle of the sport – it’s the highest performance, it’s our F1, and gravel is this lovely extension to it. I think it’s a great thing.
