Such has been the case since the infamous Festina affair of 1998 brought the issue of drug use in cycling to world attention.

It's been a troublesome decade for the sport, an era that has been dominated by one man: Lance Armstrong.

It's understandable, surely, that eyebrows would be raised when an individual becomes so dominant at a time when the use of performance-enhancing drugs is accepted to have reached epidemic proportions.

But it must be stressed that the American's record remains clean. His story of achievement is well documented. After beating testicular cancer, Armstrong won every Tour de France from 1999 to 2005. He strongly fights all and any accusations that he has taken banned substances.

While on the podium at the Champs Elysees in 2005, he said: "To the people who don't believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics, I'm sorry for you.

I'm sorry that you can't dream big. I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. . . I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets . . .

this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins." Armstrong's reputation remains intact but if the past three weeks have proven anything, it's that 'Le Tour' has many secrets. Sadly for cycling, most sports fans seem to have decided that for every secret that comes to light, hundreds more will remain in the shadows.