‘I Wouldn’t Change A Thing,’ Says Lance Armstrong About Doping Incident

Former American cyclist Lance Amstrong, whose career came to a halt after being charged with substance abuse has said that he would be taking nothing back from the doping incident if he had a chance. Following the charges, Amstrong’s seven Tour de France titles — which he had won between 1999 and 2005 — were stripped off by the International Cycling Union six years ago.

“I wouldn’t change a thing. I wouldn’t change the way I acted,” Lance Armstrong said in excerpts of an interview with American broadcaster NBC Sports that will air on May 29, which was reported by AFP.

“I mean I would, but this is a longer answer. “Primarily, I wouldn’t change the lessons that I’ve learned. I don’t learn all the lessons if I don’t act that way. I don’t get investigated and sanctioned if I don’t act the way I acted.

“If I just doped and didn’t say a thing, none of that would have happened. None of it. I was begging for, I was asking for them to come after me. It was an easy target.”

Lance Amstrong, now 47, was outcast by the sports fraternity and shunned by the international cycling world for being exposed with doping. He was also issued with a lifetime ban by the United States Anti-Doping Agency in 2012.

Having denied the doping allegations for years, Armstrong eventually made a public confession in a television interview with US chat show host Oprah Winfrey in 2013.

“We did what we had to do to win. It wasn’t legal, but I wouldn’t change a thing: whether it’s losing a bunch of money, going from hero to zero,” Lance Armstrong said.