Robbie McEwen says it's time to clear out UCI dead wood after Lance Armstrong doping scandal

ROBBIE McEwen says the Lance Armstrong's doping scandal has served its purpose and now is the time to clear out the dead wood attached to the UCI.

ROBBIE McEwen says cycling's darkest era - Lance Armstrong's doping scandal - has served its purpose and now is the time to clear out the dead wood attached to the International Cycling Union (UCI).

McEwen, a former teammate of Armstrong's, was not surprised by the collapse of the independent investigation into the International Cycling Union's alleged involvement in the fallen star's cheating.

Speaking before a sports lunch yesterday at Brisbane's Normanby Hotel, the Australian sprint king said cycling would recover but the world governing body needs change.

"There probably needs to be management changes, people who were installed by the old regime, within the UCI," he said.

"It needs an update."

The UCI and World Anti-Doping Agency have blamed each other for the failure to launch an independent commission.

It was disbanded after protracted argument about its powers and whether witnesses would be granted an amnesty protecting them from subsequent disciplinary action.

McEwen argued that the probe was a waste of time yet praised the UCI for making the changes to anti-doping protocols.

"It's come to a point where it has to be let go and the sport needs to move on," he said.

"I don't think setting up a commission like that is going to improve on what they're doing.

"They need to keep doing what they're doing with the whereabouts system and biological passport (program).

"The stuff with Lance has connected the era of 1999-2005 directly to 2013.

"The teams and riders that were doing the same things as the US Postal team all got caught.

"Guys who've turned pro since 2006, it's unfair they've been confronted with all this."

One of those newer faces is Team Saxo Bank rider Jonathan Cantwell, who will leave his home on the Gold Coast today bound for the Tour of Qatar.

He exists in a system of rigid drug controls and insists sophisticated doping plots can no longer succeed.

"Our controls are unbelievably strict," he said.

"Lance had a mafia situation, he orchestrated everything. The rest wouldn't have the manpower to do what he did."