So with a French report about to be handed down on doping into the 1998 Tour de France, Stuart O'Grady announces his retirement despite having signed on to ride on in 2014 only a month ago.
He says it is time to move on after helping Australian team Orica-Greenedge to a dream opening week at the Tour de France where teammates Simon Gerrans and Daryl Impey wore the yellow jersey.
No, O'Grady just knew he was about to be busted and had been living a lie for 15 years. With the report implicating him, O'Grady then confesses to doping.
O'Grady may be one of nation's finest and most popular cyclists but he is also a drug cheat. Apologists will say that everyone was doping on the 1998 tour in which O'Grady wore the yellow jersey for three days.
The news of his confession has been largely met by silence from the usual tweet-happy peleton.
Cycling has taken long overdue steps to clean up the sport.
But this latest confession deserves to be treated with condemnation and should cue plenty of eye rolling.
O'Grady says he took EPO in the two weeks before the 1998 Tour and never used a banned substance for the rest of his career.
While many will want to believe him, this one black mark will leave a dark cloud of doubt over the rest of a once admirable career.
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