Lance Armstrong: 'Impossible to win Tour without doping' during his era

Lance Armstrong told French newspaper Le Monde in an interview that appears tomorrow that it was impossible to win the Tour de France without doping during his era in the race.

"Was it possible to achieve performances without doping? It depends on the race you wanted win," Armstrong told the French newspaper. "The Tour de France? No. Impossible to win without doping because the Tour is an endurance test where oxygen is crucial. To take just one example, EPO will not help a sprinter to win a 100m but it will be crucial for a runner 10,000m. It's obvious."

The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) found Armstrong guilty last year of cheating through the majority of his career. He lost all of his titles since returning from cancer, including all seven Tour de France editions he won, from 1999 to 2005.

He refused to cooperation with the US agency, but this January, he confessed to doping in a TV interview with Oprah Winfrey.

"The whole story has not been told," Armstrong continued. "USADA's Reasoned Decision did not reveal the true picture of cycling in the late 1980s to the present day. It perfectly succeeded in destroying the life of a man, but did not benefit cycling."

Armstrong complemented Jan Ullrich, who recently confessed to blood doping with Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes as part of the Operación Puerto investigation.

"The normal procedure is to say nothing."

Related links

Tour de France 2013 coverage index

Read Cycling Weekly magazine on the day of release wherever you are in the world with our iPad and iPhone edition - International digital edition, UK digital edition. And if you like us, rate us!