Christian Prudhomme took to the stage in Paris' Palais des Congres on Tuesday to unveil the route for the 2017 Tour de France, but one of the most striking aspects of his opening address had nothing to do with start towns, summit finishes or time trials.
It was the moment he mentioned the Mouvement Pour un Cyclisme Credible (MPCC), and issued an endorsement of the voluntary organisation that, in the current climate, carried considerable weight and resonance.
"It's the key to our future," he said, quoting the MPCC's strap line-come-mission statement: 'keeping the light alight'.
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Light has been hard to come by for cycling in recent weeks, the sport instead cast in the gloomy grey over ethical questions surrounding Bradley Wiggins - the first British winner of the Tour - and Sky - the team of four of the past five champions.
Wiggins was well within the anti-doping rules when he was provided a Therapeutic Use Exemption for injections of the powerful and ordinarily-banned triamcinolone acetonide ahead of the 2011 and 2012 Tours de France and 2013 Giro d'Italia for severe allergy symptoms.
But skepticism abounds over the veracity of Wiggins' need for a drug David Millar has described as the "most potent" he ever used, the timing of the injections, and the credibility of Sky's self-styled commitment to cleanliness and transparency - to name a few issues at play. Such a TUE would not have been allowed had Sky been a member of the MPCC.
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