SERIAL doper Lance Armstrong admits some fans will always be “p****d” with him for his Tour de France cheating.
The disgraced American was stripped of his seven Tour titles after he admitted taking performance-enhancing drugs.
In an ESPN documentary released today, the Texan recounts an X-rated story when he was approached by disgruntled punters outside a bar.
Armstrong, 48, said: “When my life took the turn that it took, I said to myself, everywhere that I go for the rest of my life, somebody’s going to walk up to me and say ‘f*** you’.
“So a couple of days go by and nobody said ‘f*** you’. Then months go by. And years ago by.
“I always know when somebody wants to say it. But nobody does. So, it took five years…
“I was staying in this rental house. I called an Uber. He pulls up on the street right in front of the bar.
“We cross the street and this guy stands up and shouts, ‘Hey, Lance’. “I’m like, ‘What’s up man?’. He goes, ‘F*** you! F*** you!’.
“The next thing you know, he’s with six or seven people and they all stand up and start going, ‘F*** you! You f****** cheater’.
“My friend said, ‘Get in the car right now’. She’s thinking I’m about to walk over there and punch the s*** out of this guy. Which would have obviously been a bad idea.
“I’d have done that most of my life. I was shocked and mad. I have to do something. Me, Lance Armstrong, doesn’t let s*** like that happen.
“I called the bar. Here’s my credit card number. Whatever they are eating, whatever they are drinking, I don’t care how expensive — it’s on me.
“Under one condition. You have to say, ‘Guys, Lance took care of everything. And he sends his love’.
“Some people are p****d still — and they will be p****d for ever.”
SunSport was the first UK publication to watch the two-part doc, which is available on ESPN Player.
Last week we revealed Armstrong’s confession that he first took drugs aged 21.
This was probably before his first Tour de France stage win in 1993 and when he became road race world champion in Oslo, a month before his 22nd birthday.
The documentary is a fascinating film but crucially it does not grill ex-UCI president Pat McQuaid and Johan Bruyneel — banned boss of Armstrong’s US Postal Service team — on what they knew about the rider’s systematic doping.
Armstrong apologises to whistle- blower, Irish masseur Emma O’Reilly, and testifying Italian cyclist Filippo Simeoni, for viciously trying to discredit them under oath and in various media reports.
Asked to nominate the worst way he had treated someone, he replied: “Probably the way I treated and spoke about Emma O’Reilly.
“To call a woman a ‘w****’ is totally unacceptable. It’s hard to be worse than that.
“Why did I do it? I was an idiot and in full attack mode. I’d have said anything.”
O’Reilly told the documentary: “I looked after riders. If I did want to speak out, it was to do good. My whole thing was about the UCI.
“It’s them that are creating this problem. It annoyed me that the whole system was not to protect riders. They were fodder for other people’s grand plans.”
American Betsy Andreu, wife of ex-rider Frankie, spoke out against Armstrong’s bullying.
She said: “2004 is when the mess started. They were breathing down our throats to sign a false affidavit supporting Lance.
“When I refused, it was a snowball. Anybody Lance could talk to, to smear me.
“He wanted to portray me as some wacko. It was all about protecting the brand — Lance Inc. Cancer survivor.”
LANCE is available on ESPN Player – Part One is on today, with Part Two aired on June 1.
