American cyclist Lance Armstrong said in an interview with Le Monde that it is impossible to win the Tour de France without doping.
Asked by the Le Monde journalists “When you raced, was it possible to perform without doping?” he replied:
“That depends on which races you wanted to win. The Tour de France? No. Impossible to win without doping. Because the Tour is a test of endurance where oxygen is decisive,” said Armstrong, who added: “To take one example from athletics, EPO isn’t going to help a sprinter win a 100m race, but it would be a determining factor in a 10,000m race. It’s clear,” writes Le Monde.
Armstrong recalls in this interview that he did not invent doping. “Doping has always existed and it always will. I just participated in a system. I’m a human being.”
Lance Armstrong, who continue to “train as a cyclist”, said he will try to watch the Tour on TV.
Lance Armstrong was stripped of the seven Tour de France titles by the International Cycling Union and handed a life-time ban by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) which accused the Texan rider of leading “the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping program that sport has ever seen.” Armstrong admitted that he took doping products during his cycling career after more than ten years of denying it.
Australian cyclist Cadel Evans said on Friday that it is possible to win the Tour de France without doping: “I think the opposite. I am proof that that is not true,” said Cadel Evans, aged 36, winner of the Tour de France in 2011.
“I sometimes read in the press what Armstrong says and I respect him as a human being but really I just focus on doing my own job as best I can and fortunately we are supported by a great group of people. We try to do our job as we see fit and within the rules of course,” he added.
The 100th edition of the Tour de France starts on Saturday in Porto Vecchio, on the Corsica island.
Reply