British Cycling performance director Dave Brailsford has described the report by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), which branded Lance Armstrong a "serial cheat", as "jaw dropping".
According to USADA, Armstrong led "the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen". But The Texan has always denied doping. In August he chose not to fight the doping charges filed against him, saying he was "finished with this nonsense" and insisting he was innocent.
Brailsford was staggered by the extent of the systemic doping in the report and told BBC Five Live: "It is shocking, it's jaw dropping and it is very unpleasant, it's not very palatable and anybody who says it is would be lying wouldn't they?"
Eleven of Armstrong's former team-mates testified against him, including Michael Barry, who rode at Team Sky under Brailsford despite their zero tolerance policy.
USADA claimed Armstrong, 41, supplied banned drugs to other riders on the team, pressured them into participating in the doping programme and threatened to get them removed from the team if they refused.
For Brailsford, such action appeared to show how far the sport had fallen morally and he understands why people would question outstanding performances.
"You can see how the sport got lost in itself and got more and more extreme because it seemed to be systematic and everybody seemed to be doing it at the time - it completely and utterly lost its way and I think it lost its moral compass," he said. "Everybody has recalibrated and several teams like ourselves are hell-bent on doing it the right way and doing it clean."
He admitted to being disappointed by Barry, who admitted to doping while on the USPS team between 2002 and 2006. Barry, who rode for Team Sky from 2010, insisted on Wednesday he had not doped again from the summer of 2006.
He said in a statement: "I apologise to those I deceived. I will accept my suspension and any other consequences. I will work hard to regain people's trust."
Brailsford added: "He lied and we set out with a zero tolerance policy so we said that anyone who has had a doping conviction from the past or proved to have been involved on doping hasn't got a place on Team Sky - that is our policy."
