Tyler Hamilton believes that motorised doping in cycling has been used in the biggest races by the biggest riders, and could still be happening today.
The former USPS teammate of Lance Armstrong joined us to discuss the issue of doping more widely, and also gave a fascinating insight into the mind of a sportsman bent on winning. Hamilton said that he would not have been tempted to use a motor, even though he underwent one of the strictest blood doping regimes known in the history of sport.
When asked whether he thought that motors could have been used in the Tour de France, Tyler was frank.
"I think it could have happened. I think it could have.
"I mean, after I did an interview with 60 Minutes, they showed me what it was all about and how small and inconspicuous it could be. I was surprised.
"When I was a cyclist, I never had heard about it then all of a sudden - I think in around 2008 or 2009 - you started to hearing about it. There were certain videos out there that looked pretty 'interesting'.
"There is some stuff that definitely makes you scratch your head. There has been a rider or two that have been caught.
"I do have a few inside sources and from what I have heard, yeah - it has been used at the biggest races in the world, by big riders."
Tyler also said that during his career, he never knew of any of his bikes being tested for being motorised so it could certainly have been used in the peloton without anyone's knowledge - bar the infractors.
"After what I saw in that 60 Minutes programme [it could have been happening] - I tried it out it was pretty cool! I was not fit, and I went up a climb pretty fast!
The extent of the human mind to discern degrees of wrongness showed during our talk, as Tyler said that he does not believe that he would have been tempted to use motorised doping even though he was deeply immersed in cheating of another kind.
"I don't think [I would have motor doped.] Back then, I was so focused so who knows? But I don't think so... that just seems like a whole other level.
"Who knows, if you have enough people telling me that it's the right thing to do and that [another team] are all doing it too, then who knows? I would like to think that I would have said 'absolutely not' - and I'm pretty sure I would have - but who knows?
"It just seems like another level - that is doping times two."
You can watch the complete interview with Tyler here - subscribe and like the OTB YouTube, Facebook and Periscope pages to see more sporting content. OTB AM is live weekdays from 7:45am.
