While the 100th Tour de France is just a day away, former cycling champ Lance Armstrong has emerged to tell French newspaper Le Monde that he wouldn't have won his seven Tour de France titles without doping, and that he still considers himself the record-holder for Tour wins.
Armstrong's seven titles were stripped last year after he tested positive for illegal substances. He admitted it that it was "impossible" to win the Tour without doping when he was racing during the interview. And back in January, he confessed to talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey that doping was just "part of the job" of being a pro-cyclist.
The banned hormone erythropoietin, or EPO, wasn't detectable by cycling's doping controls until 2001 and so was widely abused because it prompts the body to produce oxygen-carrying blood cells which helps to boost an athletes endurance, reports USA Today.
Although current cycling competitors have not taken kindly to Armstrong's comment, the Associated Press has pointed out that Armstrong was clearly referring to his time racing, not now. According to the AP, Armstrong was asked point-blank if it was possible to win races without doping when he competed.
"That depends on which races you wanted to win. The Tour de France? No. Impossible to win without doping," Armstrong said. "Because the Tour is a test of endurance where oxygen is decisive."
In response, International Cycling Union president Pat McQuaid released a statement Friday stating:
"I can tell him categorically that he is wrong. His comments do absolutely nothing to help cycling," McQuaid said. "The culture within cycling has changed since the Armstrong era and it is now possible to race and win clean.
"Riders and teams owners have been forthright in saying that it is possible to win clean -- and I agree with them."
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