What was, in many ways, most remarkable about Millar's achievement on that hot summer in 1984 was that it went largely unnoticed, both home and abroad. Cycling coverage in Britain was minimal while in France the focus was on overall winner Laurent Fignon and his duel with French compatriot Bernard Hinault.

The Glaswegian, who has been described variously as a loner, opinionated and difficult, left Scotland in 1979 when he joined the prestigious French amateur club ACBB in Paris where riders such as Jacques Anquetil, André Darrigade and Bernard Thévenet had learned their trade, as did a number of English speaking riders such as Seamus Elliott, Stephen Roche and Phil Anderson.

The following year Millar signed a professional contract with Peugeot, Tom Simpson's former team, before producing numerous top-10 finishes in France.

The 1983 Tour de France saw Millar make his debut at the race where he won his first stage, and Britain's first ever stage in the high mountains, when he triumphed in stage 10 from Pau to Bagnères-de-Luchon while finishing 14th in the mountains classification.

The following year Millar headed off to Colombia to train at high altitude in preparation for his assault on the mountainous course organisers had designed for the 1984 edition of the race. After winning the mountains classification at Paris-Nice and beating Hinault on the final day of the pre-Tour Midi Libre stage race the scene was set for Millar's greatest ever Tour de France.

Millar's training appeared to have paid off when he won his second Tour de France stage, once again in the high mountains, the 11th stage from Pau to Guzet-Neige.

With much of the media attention focused on former team-mates Fignon and Hinault in the race for general classification, Millar kept a low profile as he waited, patiently, to make his move which he duly did on July 16 during stage 17 from Grenoble to the summit finish on Alpe d'Huez.

Hinault, who had fallen out with his former team manager Cyrille Guimard the previous year, had hoped to attack Fignon during stage 17. However, his plan backfired as Fignon and Colombia's Luis Herrera dropped Hinault on one of the climbs that preceded Alpe d'Huez. Millar and Hinault caught the pair before the Frenchman attacked on the lower slopes of the Alpe.

Millar remained calm when Hinault – who at the time was le patron, or boss, of the peloton – demanded the Scot do his turn on the front after Herrera had escaped before going on to win the stage. Millar kindly obliged, before dropping the great Frenchman and going on to take the polka dot jersey and becoming the first Briton since Simpson in 1962 to wear a Tour de France leader's jersey in any of its competitions.