Cadel Evans says cycling has turned the corner since the depth of its drug-riddled and corrupt past was exposed through the stunning downfall of Lance Armstrong, which triggered an overhaul of the sport's international hierarchy.
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The first Australian to have won a Tour de France, Evans said on a rare mid-season return home – a journey he made to announce a new professional one-day road event named in his honour – that he had not felt compelled to defend his reputation as scandal after scandal had been revealed in recent years.
"No. On that aspect, with me personally, the best thing I think I could do for the sport was be a good example to the sport," the rider, who has historically been held up as a clean face of his game, said.
"There's so many people who have voiced their opinion. Some opinions are well informed, some are very ignorant.
"My role in the sport, I've always felt, has been to set a good example. And what results that brings – whether it's a win or a second place or, like in the Giro this year, eighth place … I gave everything that I had physically to get that result … then I look on to the next goal."
Cycling appeared to reach a nadir, in terms of its image globally, following the US Anti-Doping Agency's decision in October 2012 to ban seven-time Tour winner Armstrong for life for systematic doping. There was fallout in Australia when Orica-GreenEDGE team director Matt White confessed he doped while he was a team mate of Armstrong's, and the vice-president of Cycling Australia, Stephen Hodge, also stood down after admitting he too had doped. A further hit came domestically this time last year after Stuart O'Grady felt forced to confess he doped. The Australian Paris-Roubaix winner maintains he did that once.
"I think the sport's done more than any other sport in the last 10 years in the fight against drugs," Evans said.
"More the last 15 years where it's gone and done absolutely everything that science and the law allows.
"And for those people, parents of young people, aspiring young riders, have no fear - now, in our sport, it's the most talented, hardest-working, smartest bike riders winning the races.
"Have no fear, our sport, as someone who has been on the inside of the sport, I think it's in the best shape – maybe not economically – but the best shape ethically and sporting-wise that the sport has ever been in, certainly since I've been involved in the sport."
Evans said he made his assessment based on the racing he was watching and still participating in.
"I've always said that the riders who perform consistently and over a long period of time, that's always a good sign.
"The riders who have always been performing well are now the ones who are winning. The margins are very small in the races. The racing's very close," he said.
"We see the racing now, it's so close. The smallest margins are making the differences between winning and losing and that's a sign that cycling has done a really good job with cleaning up its sport."
