Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas says a claim that as many as 90 per cent of riders in today’s peloton could be doping is “insulting” and says he would bet all the money he has that team mates Sir Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome are riding clean.

The Welsh rider, currently 10th overall at Paris-Nice, was speaking to BBC Sport following the publication yesterday of the report by Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC) into the culture of doping in cycling, including the years when use of substances such as EPO was commonplace.

The report suggested that use of performance enhancing drugs is still rife in the sport, although estimates of just how much vary widely, with the CIRC saying one “respected former professional” putting the figure at 90 per cent of riders, while another interviewed by the commission estimated 20 per cent.

Inevitably, it’s the higher figure that has received most attention, with many media outlets – including BBC Sport – highlighting that one, instead of the lower one in what is, after all, a very wide range.

In a video interview at the end of yesterday’s stage, Thomas told the BBC:  “I think it’s a hell of a lot cleaner. I didn’t race back then, but all the stories you hear it’s certainly not like that now. Whole teams were doing it back then.

“I can only comment on me and this team and I know we do it [ride clean], and I certainly do it 100 per cent.

“It’s quite insulting when people say it’s still really filthy, because that’s saying that I’m doing something wrong, and I dedicate everything to this.

“You do everything you can, you sleep well, you try not to eat, try and get skinny. It’s hard bloody work and it’s insulting when they say something like that. It’s not very nice.”

The CIRC’s report was based partly on interviews with 174 individuals including past and present riders, the majority of whom have been sanctioned for or admitted doping, including Lance Armstrong, Tyler Hamilton and Alexander Vinokourov.

It found that in contrast to the past when many teams ran internal doping programmes, for today’s peloton, “a common response … when asked about teams, was that probably 3 or 4 were clean, 3 or 4 were doping, and the rest were a 'don’t know'."

Thomas said: “I can only comment on this team I don’t know what other teams do, if they were doing something I’m sure they wouldn’t tell me.

“But the thing is also, the older riders who have done it in the past, they’re the most cynical about it all because they don’t know anything else and they don’t think you can do it any other way.

“You certainly can,” he maintained. “Look at Brad, look at Froomey, I’d put all the money I have that they’re clean. Obviously I can’t say 100 per cent, but 99.9999, you know.”

Those interviewed by the CIRC were able to ask for their identity not to be disclosed, but the names of most were published in the report, with 2013 Tour de France champion Froome the only current rider listed.

That led the recently retired David Millar, who said the report did not reflect the reality of the peloton now, to ask yesterday, “Where are the others?”