Cycling: Sport on the skids finds itself reborn in Britain

London awaits. Only two weeks to go now. The posters are up, the organisers are holding their breath, fans are working out the best vantage points - and David Millar is looking forward to the greatest moment in British cycling since his fellow-Scot Kirkpatrick Macmillan invented the bicycle in about 1840.

Nobody knows quite what to expect when the capital hosts the prologue and first stage of the Tour de France over the weekend of 7 and 8 July, but Millar - the country's leading Tour entrant - is clear about one thing: that at a time when doping is once again casting a long shadow over the professional scene, British cyclists can point the way to a cleaner, brighter future.

At all levels - from commuter to top pro - cycling in the UK has never been so vibrant, which means the arrival of the Tour on these shores could not be more timely. An array of Tour-related events is seeking to build on the momentum, including a kind of Tour prelude taking place at London's Smithfield Market tonight at which Millar will be present.

The Smithfield Nocturne - promoted by Millar's sister Frances - comprises a series of races around the 800-year-old meat market, similar to a Belgian kermesse, when a town gives itself over to a festival of cycling. Nothing like it has ever been tried in London, and Millar promises that "it will be a lot of fun".

The serious business comes later, when Millar could be joined by as many as four other British cyclists on the Tour start line, the most there will have been since the 1980s. Bradley Wiggins - winner of Olympic track gold, silver and bronze three years ago - is a definite to take part in his second Tour, and there is a likely debut for the experienced Charlie Wegelius. But for Millar - about to embark on his fifth Tour at the age of 30 - it is the prospect of two much younger men graduating to the most famous bike race in the world that is really exciting.

Mark Cavendish, 22, and Geraint Thomas, 21, are "great kids", Millar says. "Mark is this rare talent, can really make his presence felt in the sprints, and Geraint is a real warrior." Both have benefited from the sophisticated training regimes established by British Cycling - the sport's governing body in the UK - which have already yielded startling results on the track. And with the setting up by BC of a base in Italy, young British riders are beginning to adjust to the demands of road racing, for so long the preserve of Continental riders. Pro teams have noticed just how good these Brits are, and now Cavendish is a rising star of Germany's T-Mobile, with Thomas wearing the colours of the South African Barloworld team.

"It's never been like this all the time I've been involved in the sport," Millar says. "We never had this depth of talent before. We've taken the best of the foreign systems, in particular Russia and Australia, and now other countries are in awe of us."

Crucially, what pro teams know if they take on a British rider who has come up through the BC system is that he will be "guaranteed clean", says Millar. A reformed doper himself - he served a two-year ban that ended just before last year's Tour - Millar is now outspoken in his condemnation of the conduct that has continued to dog cycling, and which he says "if we don't face up to then we won't have a sport".

The last year has been grim. The Floyd Landis affair drags on, and we still don't know if the result of the 2006 Tour will stand. The German Jan Ullrich - one of many riders caught up in the Spanish drugs bust Operation Puerto in 2006 - retired in semi-ignominy, a sad end to a career in which he won one Tour and pushed Lance Armstrong hard in numerous others. Italy's Ivan Basso, winner of the Giro in 2006, has just been banned for two years. The 1996 Tour winner, Bjarne Riis, confessed to having doped, as did the leading Germans Rolf Aldag and Erik Zabel.

"It's always been there," Millar says. "It's a cultural thing. But there comes a point, and I reckon we're there now, when sponsors are going to pull out and the sport won't be economically viable. We've reached a kind of endgame. It won't be ethics that bring this whole thing to a halt, it'll be money."

The UCI - cycling's world governing body - wants all pro riders to sign a declaration that they are clean, but Millar warns that there might still be those who sign but don't really mean it. None the less, there is clearly a feeling that, finally, something must be done, and T-Mobile are leading the way by staking their reputation on the most rigorous approach to testing its team members that cycling has known.

And while the history of British cycling is not without its dark side - this, after all, is the 40th anniversary of Tom Simpson's death on Mont Ventoux - the Tour's visit to London is a moment to highlight the country's largely honourable traditions. "It's definitely come along at the right time," Millar says. "There'll be a flag-bearing element on our part. We can show how it should be done."

Smithfield Nocturne: Smith-field Market, London EC1 5pm to 10pm tonight www.smithfieldnocturne.co.uk