On a grey winter afternoon in February, former Hong Kong resident David Millar, once hyped as the possible first British winner of the Tour de France, told delegates at a UK Sport anti-doping conference why he resorted to taking performance-enhancing drugs.
After Millar delivered his statement, there was a ripple of applause. He smiled a little nervously and returned to his seat. Later a conference delegate came up to Millar and said: 'I've learned more listening to you talk for half an hour than I have in seven years of working in anti-doping.'
If some of the delegates had an evangelical light in their eyes, perhaps it was because Millar had told them a few uncomfortable but necessary home truths.
'The war on doping can't be won,' he said. 'It's futile because it will go on forever.'
Millar, once the golden boy of the British cycling team, is used to talking about doping. Since making his comeback in July last year from a two-year ban, he seems to have talked about little else. He has done it with good grace, unlike others such as Ivan Basso, of Italy, whose recent and highly compromised 'confession' came out through gritted teeth.
When in June 2004, the French drugs squad took Millar into custody and found used EPO syringes in his home, he quickly confessed. In the fallout, he was forced to sell his house in Biarritz, move back to England and finally ended up sleeping on his sister's floor.