Illes Balears sports director Eusebio Unzue believes this year's Tour de France represents a fresh start for cycling, following Friday's exclusion of riders implicated in an anti-doping investigation in Spain.

"We have done more than touch bottom. Cycling has suffered a mortal blow and we want to send an SOS to everyone to help us," Unzue was reported as saying in Spanish sports daily AS on Saturday.

"We have to try and think positively that this race represents a new starting point. Top sports live on the edge of legality and cycling has to abide by the same rules as all the others."

The Illes Balears team leader Alejandro Valverde, now considered among the favourites for the race with the likes of Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso and Francisco Mancebo out, took a similar view.

"I don't know if this is the right way to go about it but I hope we have a clean race, not only in the Tour but in all the other races in the calendar," the 26-year-old said.

"I sincerely hope that whoever wins this Tour will be remembered as a great champion and not as someone who won a race stained by a doping scandal."

The investigation hit the headlines last month after the Spanish Civil Guard raided a number of addresses to find large quantities of anabolic steroids, laboratory equipment used for blood transfusions and more than 100 packs of frozen blood.

On Friday, Tour organisers announced it was in possession of a list of more than 50 riders involved in the probe after being handed a 37-page document by the Spanish Cycling Federation.