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Lance Armstrong: ‘I’d cheat again’

Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, who lost seven of his Tour de France titles after being found guilty of taking performance enhancing drugs, says he would do it all over again.

The 43-year-old was banned from the sport for life in 2012 by the United States Anti-Doping Agency after being found guilty of doping throughout his career.

In an interview with the BBC, Armstrong said he would change the way he treated people, but not his decision to cheat.

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“If I was racing in 2015, no, I wouldn’t do it again because I don’t think you have to,” Armstrong said.

“If you take me back to 1995, when doping was completely pervasive, I would probably do it again.”

Armstrong won the Tour de France for a record seven times in successive years from 1999 to 2005.

Lance Armstrong

Armstrong during the 2004 Tour de France. Photo: Getty

“When I made the decision, when my team made that decision, when the whole peloton made that decision, it was a bad decision and an imperfect time.”

He denied the allegations until admitting to doping in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2013.

The father-of-five said he regretted his “unacceptable” behaviour throughout his career, admitting he had been “an arsehole to a dozen people”.

Armstrong called his former rider Filippo Simeoni a liar after he testified against his doctor, Michele Ferrari, in a 2002 Italian doping case.

“I would want to change the man that did those things, maybe not the decision, but the way he acted,” Armstrong said.

“The way he treated people, the way he couldn’t stop fighting. It was unacceptable, inexcusable.”

In the documentary to be screened on the BBC this week, Armstrong said he was ready to return to public life.

“Selfishly, I would say ‘yeah, we’re getting close to that time’.”

“But that’s me, my word doesn’t matter any more. What matters is what people collectively think, whether that’s the cycling community, the cancer community.”

“Listen, of course I want to be out of timeout, what kid doesn’t?”

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