Motivation Quote by David Millar

Millar’s line lands with the tired clarity of someone who’s seen the seams up close. Coming from a cyclist who publicly admitted doping and then rebuilt his career in a sport defined by its pharmacological shadow, the claim isn’t a shrug so much as a preemptive strike against fantasy. He’s not defending cheaters; he’s puncturing the comforting story that the next testing regime, the next crackdown, the next “new era” will finally purify competition.

The intent is pragmatic: lower the temperature, raise the realism. By framing cheating as “human nature,” Millar shifts the conversation from individual monsters to structural incentives. Elite sport is an industry that pays disproportionately for marginal gains, and the margins are where ethics get transactional. The subtext is that outrage can be performative, even useful: it reassures fans and sponsors that the system works, while quietly accepting that the system produces rule-breaking as reliably as it produces winners.

“It will never be 100 percent clean” is also a coded critique of policing. Total cleanliness is an impossible benchmark, and impossible benchmarks justify endless suspicion. Athletes become guilty by association, careers hinge on rumors, and governing bodies keep chasing an unattainable purity that lets them claim moral authority without solving the underlying economics.

Context matters: cycling’s post-Armstrong reckoning, the biological passport era, and the shift from obvious positives to sophisticated micro-dosing and gray-zone tech. Millar is arguing for a more adult social contract: aim for “cleaner,” not immaculate, and design rules that acknowledge how relentlessly ambition will hunt for loopholes.