“We’re looking at an enormous, sophisticated doping programme. It was win-at-all costs,” said the Irishman, who took over the UCI presidency shortly after the US rider’s seventh and final Tour de France win.

Many of Armstrong’s former staff and teammates testified against the Texan, and while McQuaid thanked them for speaking out, he said he was horrified to read the USADA report. “I have to say and admit, as a (former) cyclist and coming from a cycling family, I was sickened by what I read in the USADA report,” he said.