Britain's David Millar, currently serving a ban for drug use, will make his professional cycling comeback at next year's Tour de France after signing for the Spanish team Saunier Duval, the Italian news agency ANSA reported Monday.

Millar was banned for two years after admitting using the banned hormone EPO (Erythropoietin) but his two-year sanction ends in June 2006.

Millar has now signed to race the Tour with the Spanish team that is run by Italian brothers Pietro and Vittorio Algeri.

Millar said last week he has been studying a number of offers from teams, reportedly QuickStep, Liberty Seguros and Illes Balears.

The 28-year-old Scot, born in Malta but who grew up in Hong Kong, said recently he was fully committed to getting his career back on track.

Millar's two-year ban, handed down after he confessed to EPO-use in June 2004, ends on June 23 next year, just nine days before the 2006 Tour de France kicks off with a seven-kilometer prologue in Strasbourg. The British road race championship on June 25 could be his first comeback race and the only opportunity for Millar to prove his form.

Millar’s return to the top level of professional racing is faster than it would have been had his suspension occurred after the creation of the UCI’s new ProTour series. The ProTour’s ethics rules require that riders remain ineligible to compete in those events for a period twice that of the original suspension.