Lance Armstrong wants fair treatment

Lance Armstrong has questioned the validity of cycling's inquiry into doping and complained that he had "experienced massive personal loss... while others have truly capitalised on this story".

 

"Do I think that this process has been good for cycling?" he said in a BBC interview. "No. I don't think our sport has been served well by going back 15 years.

 

"I don't think that any sport, or any political scenario, is well served going back 15 years. And if you go back 15 years, you might as well go back 30."

 

However, the disgraced former seven-times Tour de France winner said he would testify with "100% transparency and honesty" at any future inquiry after the new president of the UCI, Brian Cookson, announced an independent commission to get to the bottom of drug use in the sport.

 

The United States Anti-Doping Agency had accused him of conducting "the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme sport has ever seen" and Armstrong said he would be prepared to take any punishment as long as it was on a level playing field: "If everyone gets the death penalty, then I'll take the death penalty.

 

"If everyone gets a free pass, I'm happy to take a free pass. If everyone gets six months, then I'll take my six months."

 

But he bemoaned the cost to himself, both in terms of his reputation and the threat to his own personal fortune, estimated to be around £78m.

 

"It's been tough," he said. "It's been real tough. I've paid a high price in terms of my standing within the sport, my reputation, certainly financially because the lawsuits have continued to pile up.

 

"I have experienced massive personal loss, massive loss of wealth while others have truly capitalised on this story."