“I still wanted to see good in him. Before all this happened, he was a bit of an idol to me. It was pretty heartbreaking for a lot of guys our age.” By this stage, he is choosing his words with the utmost care. “He was a hero to a lot of us,” he says finally. “But he isn’t any more.” Instead, he now intends to let his racing do the talking. His goal for 2014 is to secure a berth at the Tour de France. If he is still standing by stage 20, the time-trial, then he will have a tilt at that as well. It was the opportunity to ride in big races that convinced him to leave Team Sky after two seasons and join the Spanish team Movistar at the end of 2012, after also holding talks with BMC, Rabobank and Garmin.