Doping allegations 'inspire' Lance Armstrong for final Tour
Lance Armstrong, heading into his last Tour de France, says recent allegations that he doped during his career, made by his former team-mate Floyd Landis, will inspire him to win a record eighth victory.
The 38-year-old Armstrong said he was in a better shape than last year, when he capped his return to competition with third place after a three-and-a-half-year retirement.
Armstrong said he would not let any accusation from Landis "deter me. In fact, in the end it will be the opposite. It's going to inspire me."
Landis, who was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title for doping, recently made a series of doping-related allegations about Armstrong, including that Armstrong taught other riders how to dope. Armstrong has always denied wrongdoing and has never tested positive or been sanctioned by the cycling authorities.
"I don't want to get into it. It's not worth it," Armstrong said about Landis's accusations. "I did my first Tour in 1993 and now it's 2010. And I won a stage in 1993 as a 20-year-old. I've been at the front of my sport since the day I showed up. And in the process there have been a ton of questions and a ton of scrutiny and a lot of controls and a lot of investigations. And I'm still here. I don't see any other example in cycling or in any other sports."
Armstrong and Landis rode together for three years with the US Postal team. Landis left in 2005 to join Phonak.
"I understand that media love the sensationalist stories and they love the salacious and the ones that include accusations, that include all the blood and sex and drugs," Armstrong said before the team's official presentation yesterday.
"They love that. But at the end of the day I think my career speaks for itself."
The Tour starts tomorrow in the Dutch port of Rotterdam with an 8.9km prologue. Armstrong confirmed it will be his last Tour and said he was likely to ride only races related to his anti-cancer charity foundation next year.
Landis's allegations have reportedly drawn the attention of the US Food and Drug Administration agent Jeff Novitzky, the leading investigator in the Balco doping case.
Armstrong added he decided that this Tour would be his last because he was tired of being constantly away from his family.
"It's just a family decision," Armstrong said. "Like I told the people that asked about it, at RadioShack, friends, that came from pressure from my kids. I'm away all the time. Not all the time but enough time. Even at these moments I don't need to miss them any more."
Armstrong already has four children and his girlfriend Anna Hansen is expecting his fifth.