Tripleshot Cycling

"At one end of the spectrum you’ve got riders and team managers who are perpetuating omerta because they’re engaged in doping or have been in the past," says television commentator Gary Imlach.

"At the other end, I think there are ordinary riders who, like most people, just want a quiet life and to get on with the people they have to work with every day, so from that point of view you can sympathise to some extent with people not wanting to put their heads above the parapet.

"And I think from inside cycling they often perceive media coverage of doping as a sort of hostile act instead of something aimed at helping the sport so they develop a bit of a bunker mentality about it. So even perfectly clean riders who are above all suspicion are on the defensive the moment the subject is raised. And who knows whether that’s because they’re weak or afraid, or because they simply want to concentrate on riding their bikes without having to deal with unpleasant and uncomfortable issues.

"Having said that, there comes a point where you have a responsibility to speak out and very few riders have. Who knows, there might be more by way of a response if and when the full evidence against Armstrong ever gets a proper airing."