Lance Armstrong has taken to Instagram to prove that he is very much alive and well after rumours that he had died circulated online.

The former rider looked understandably unamused as he held the headline of an online story up to the camera, captioning his post with the Mark Twain quip “the rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated”.

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The story, headlined “BREAKING NEWS: Road racing cyclist Lance Armstrong has died” has been circulating on a number of fake news sites over the last few days, falsely claiming that the 45-year-old’s demise had been been confirmed by his daughter.

Former US Postal general manager Johan Bruyneel was one of those to make light of the incident, replying “I had the unique experience to talk with a dead person on the this morning. I was relieved to hear your voice though…”