Claims he felt duty-bound to return and prove his worth.

Today marks not merely the start of the Volta a Catalunya, but also of a new period for Garmin- Sharp's Christian Vande Velde who, along with teammates Tom Danielson and David Zabriskie, will take part in a race for the first time after completing six-month suspensions. The American trio returns to active duty after their envelopment in USADA's doping case against Lance Armstrong and the US Postal and Discovery Channel teams starting in the latter half of 2012.

In an in-depth interview, Vande Velde reveals that it would have been an easy escape to just concede defeat and retire altogether but he is unwavering in his determination to return to racing and endeavour to lead by example.

"I didn't want to go away and hide after everything that came out. It would have been really easy for me to say, 'I'm out, I'm done, don't mess with me anymore,' he told ESPN. "I almost felt compelled to come back and show that I'm still proud of what I've done on this team and lead by example."

During his enforced absence, Vande Velde admits, he went through some tough times, and being away from things like team training camps were difficult to handle.

"It's been hard. I'm not going to lie. And I didn't foresee a lot of the things that would be hard. Like, for example, a training camp in November-December that a lot of times I didn't want to go to. I've been at a training camp at that point in time for the last 20 years of my life. Having that gaping hole there and not being retired, it blindsided me. I know I'm going to race this year, that'll come, and I wasn't freaking out about that. But it was definitely being away from the team, having that communication like I always have, that was hard, much more than I thought it would be."

No talk with Armstrong yet

A veteran in the game, Vande Velde has experienced both beautiful and not-so-beautiful things during his career but claims that things have taken a turn for the better. "This has been a process over the last 15, 18 years for me and I've seen the good, the bad and the ugly, but I've also seen a turning [around] in the sport many years ago, long before this came out in 2012. I did bad things in the past. I was part of a bad culture in the sport. But I was also one of the first people to say, 'Enough.' We've [the Garmin team] been a big part of that and I'm very proud of that."

In the interview Vande Velde goes on to discuss the reception awaiting him on his return to the peloton, claiming indifference if the reigning omerta inside the bunch causes him to face a hostile pack as a consequence of his outspokenness. He also says that he hasn’t talked to Lance Armstrong since the USADA case, but that he feels certain that he will one day, and that he looks forward to such a talk.