Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong is still defending his doping during the Tour de France victories.
Armstrong was stripped off his titles and banned from cycling after tests determined that he had used illegal substances to cheat during his 1999-2005 seven victory run.
In an interview with the French publication Le Monde , Armstrong stated:
“It would have been impossible to win the Tour de France without doping.”
Not mincing words, when asked if riders won races while being drug free Armstrong said, “It depends on the races. The Tour de France? No. Impossible to win without doping.”
French rider Bernard Hinault was prompt to react to the comments saying, “He must not know what it was like to ride without doping.”
Armstrong lost his titles in 2012 after the US Anti-Doping Agency uncovered the years of cheating and denying doping claims in a report.
The Agency called Lance Armstrong’s doping the “most sophisticated in the history of sport.”
The former cyclist also had choice words for the agency saying that they have ruined his life and have not accomplished anything positive for the sport in the process.
“I did not invent doping. Sorry, Travis,” the 41-year-old Armstrong said, referring to USADA CEO Travis Tygart. “And it has not stopped with me. I just took part in the system.
“The USADA ‘reasoned decision’ perfectly managed to destroy a man’s life but it has not benefited cycling at all.”
Armstrong also took jabs at the International Cycling Union (UCI) and its president Pat McQuaid, who has been accused of allegedly covering up for the American.
“The UCI refuses to establish a ‘Truth and Reconciliation commission’ because the testimony that everyone would want to hear would bring McQuaid, (his predecessor) Hein Verbruggen and the whole institution down.” he added.
Lance Armstrong was once considered the best cyclist the sport had ever seen.
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