Cycling still has a cheater’s image because of Armstrong, says Cavendish: "It happens wherever there is money to be gained"

Cavendish turned professional with WorldTour team T-Mobile after an internship in 2007. A year later, the German cycling world was rocked by problems in the Gerolsteiner, Milram, and Saunier Duval teams. This meant that the very young Cavendish, who achieved his first victories in the Tour de France that year, found himself in the middle of one of the darkest periods in the sport.

But what caused even more damage was the doping scandal surrounding Lance Armstrong. The British sprinter believes that cycling will never really be able to put this behind it. “We'll never get away from our past as a sport, but cycling puts the time, effort and money into combat doping,” he tells talkSPORT. “There’ll still be people who are caught for cheating and stuff like that.”

Cavendish won an astonishing six stages in the Tour when Armstrong returned and finished third in Paris. He was in my younger days, yes. It was a special moment for the Manx Missile, because he was his idol. "He was growing up and Lance was very good to me when I was young. I think obviously Lance gained a lot more than anyone else from the sport. So likewise, he lost a lot more than anyone else in the sport.“

It is unfair that cycling is seen as the quintessential doping sport, according to Cav. “It's not saying, I'm a cheat, so I'm going to be a cyclist. That's not how it works. It happens in all sports. It happens in entertainment, business. Anywhere there's money we gain, people will cheat. If you put the time, the effort, the money into catching a cheat, you will do it. That's what cycling did on a big level."

Cavendish thinks that all the drama has actually been good for the sport. “I tell you, I could not have done what I did in the sport if cycling was how it was in the past,” he claims. “Twenty years later, I'm answering questions about it, which will always be the case. But it's actually nice to be able to talk about how I see it and how I've experienced it.”

After the Festina affair and the 2008 Tour de France, where the entire Saunier Duval team was expelled from the race after doping cases involving Riccardo Riccò and Leonardo Piepoli. But that time is now well and truly in the past. “I know that, fundamentally, I believe I've raced in one of, if not the, cleanest sport in the world because they do the stuff to combat doping.”