The Armstrong lie, or liesthere have been countlessplus the bullying and the betrayal … he knows it has laid him bare to all manner of abuse. Call it what you will, but in his words what ensued was a “shit storm, a fall from grace, a disgrace.”
And, to put it bluntly, “there is a still a bit of drama out there.” A number of the legal cases that followed once his doping was finally exposed have been resolved, but the biggest of all looms large.
Read: ‘Deeply flawed’ Armstrong admits to doping
Armstrong’s fight with the U.S. Federal Government over its sponsorship of his former cycling team has potential $100 million ramifications for a man who was previously one of the world’s most bankable sports stars.
“I’m very confident that that’s a winner for us,” he says. “I don’t think anyone can truly argue the U.S. Postal Service was damaged. They made a lot of money in the deal and got what they bargained for.
“I worked my ass off for them and I’m proud of it. Furthermore there wasn’t a technical relationship between myself and the U.S. Postal Service. In many ways, I’m no different to (former teammates) Tyler Hamilton or Floyd Landis or whoever. We were just independent.”
Armstrong relishes a fight. It’s what made him a great cyclist, drugs and all, and he is ready for another one. Perversely, you get the sense he is relishing the next round. It is not one, he says, that gives him sleepless nights despite the possible outcome because, he argues, it is out of his control.
But it is that love of a fight that let him down as a human being.
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“I’m not angry,” he insists. “I think most people are smart enough to look at that situation and say, ‘That doesn’t make any sense.’ I think more and more people will see that view over time.”
For someone who so dominated his sport between 1999-2005, a man who was so defiant before accepting his legacy had been ruined, it must hurt to see other names remaining in the record books during an era where doping was apparently so rife?
“What stands out in a lot of people’s minds is that we all know what happened in those other years, but those still stand,” he says.
Despite his recent frankness, a myriad of questions still circulate around Armstrong. Has he changed? Is he truly contrite? Will he survive such a gargantuan fall from public grace?
Most will say it’s the same Lance as always — and he says he’s happy for others to be the judge.
“That’s best answered by someone else. My opinion on that doesn’t fucking matter. Ask other people — that’s going to be a true answer … and let me know what they say.”
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