No dope, no win says disgraced US cyclist Lance Armstrong
Nobody’s going to win cycling’s most famed race without doping, said shamed US biker Lance Armstrong on the eve of the Tour de France’s 100th edition.
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In an interview with Le Monde, Armstrong, who won the Tour a record seven times between 1999 and 2005, said it was impossible to win without performance-enhancing drugs during the heyday of his cycling career.
"The Tour de France? No. Impossible to win without doping because the Tour
is an endurance event where oxygen is decisive," he was quoted as saying in the French daily.
He gave the example of how EPO (erythropoietin) blood doping would not help a sprinter win a 100m, but it would crucial for a 10,000m runner.
Armstrong was striped of his medals and banned from competing for life after a US Anti-Doping Agency report revealed him as a chronic drug abuser in 2012.
But the sport goes on.
Tomorrow, the legendary race kicks off in Corsica with a new generation of cyclists to watch.
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