"True champion"

A culture shift has happened too, he believes, something born out by the strong anti-doping stances of many teams and the passionate verbal blasts handed out by 2012 Tour champion Bradley Wiggins to anyone who questioned his good faith.  

"Many riders are saying they don't want to be involved in the culture of doping, even ones who were witnesses in this affair admitted they did not want to be involved. The riders today have a different attitude," McQuaid added.

"We have to have faith in the riders today, the sponsors are heavily involved in the sport (...) We lost a very important sponsor, Rabobank, last week, that's true, but I'm quite confident that this sponsor will be replaced and the sponsors we have understand what is going on."

However, cycling has been at a crossroads before and not acted sufficiently to spare it from ridicule.

In 1998, the sport was plunged into a major crisis with the Festina doping affair and it failed to prevent Armstrong from then implementing what was regarded by USADA as the most sophisticated doping program ever seen.

The culture has also not changed completely. Some riders still regard Armstrong as a true champion.

"It was difficult for the UCI to have another response," France coach and former tour of Spain winner Laurent Jalabert told French radio station RTL.

"Anyway, he was a great champion. Whatever he could have taken, there were not that many riders at the same level. He had a huge talent. He may have made a mistake, he got caught, he has been punished for it.

"He is not the first but, whatever, he had outstanding skills."

Cycling has much more work to do.