Dave Brailsford has described as "jaw dropping" the report by the USADA which branded Lance Armstrong a "serial cheat".
According to USADA, Armstrong led "the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen".
Eleven of Armstrong's former team-mates testified against him, including Michael Barry, who rode at Team Sky under Brailsford despite their zero tolerance policy.
According to USADA chief executive Travis T Tygart, there was "conclusive and undeniable proof" of a team-run doping conspiracy at Armstrong's former US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team.
The Texan has always denied doping. In August he chose not to fight the doping charges filed against him, saying he was "finished with this nonsense" and insisting he was innocent.
But USADA released their 'reasoned decision' behind their decision to strip him of his seven Tour de France titles and hand him a lifetime ban.
British Cycling performance director Brailsford was staggered by the extent of the systemic doping revealed and told BBC Five Live: "It is shocking, it's jaw dropping and it is very unpleasant, it's not very palatable and anybody who says it is would be lying wouldn't they?"
The reasoned decision document said: "USADA has found proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Lance Armstrong engaged in serial cheating through the use, administration and trafficking of performance-enhancing drugs and methods and that Armstrong participated in running in the US Postal Service Team as a doping conspiracy."
USADA claimed Armstrong, 41, supplied banned drugs to other riders on the team, pressured them into participating in the doping programme and threatened to get them removed from the team if they refused.
For Brailsford, such action appeared to show how far the sport had fallen morally and he understands why people would question outstanding performances.
He said: "You can see how the sport got lost in itself and got more and more extreme because it seemed to be systematic and everybody seemed to be doing it at the time - it completely and utterly lost its way and I think it lost its moral compass.
"Everybody has recalibrated and several teams like ourselves are hell-bent on doing it the right way and doing it clean.
"The challenge is that it is understandable now for people to look at any results in cycling and question that."
