Lance Armstrong that he would probably dope again if faced with the same choices when he started cycling professionally in the mid-1990s. He added that since the sport has gotten cleaner, he didn鈥檛 think he would make the choice to dope if he were an up-and-comer today.
The 43-year-old Texan has been given a lifetime ban for doping during his record seven Tour de France victories. He鈥檚 been banned from virtually all sports, including noncompetitive charity rides and .
Armstrong said he still feels like the winner of seven Tours de France (even though he was subsequently stripped of the titles) and expressed frustration that no replacement winners have been named. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think history is stupid. History rectifies a lot of things. 鈥 I feel like I won those Tours,鈥 he said. (This isn鈥檛 the first time he鈥檚 expressed that sentiment: See our interview with him from last spring.)
He went on to express the hope that he could return to public life: 鈥淪elfishly, I would say, yeah, we鈥檙e getting close to that time,鈥 he told the BBC. 鈥淟isten, of course I want to be out of time-out. What kid doesn鈥檛?鈥
Armstrong did admit that while he considered the athletic implications of his doping to be unclear, the secrecy around it caused him to treat people poorly. 鈥淚 would want to change the man that did those things. Maybe not the decision, but the way he acted,鈥 he said.
The BBC will broadcast the full interview on Thursday night.