Armstrong hits back hard: "My rivals cheated too, and some have been completely destroyed by it"

There are many stories that Armstrong wanted to persuade his teammates to use banned substances and that he threatened his competitors, but now the American is striking back: "My rivals also cheated, and that destroyed some of my competitors. I lost five or six competitors from my generation to banned substances and bad habits."

With these candid statements, Armstrong recalls his battles in the peloton and emphasizes the difficult personal period that followed. The 53-year-old American has now completely overcome this dark period, during which he was addicted to alcohol, among other things, and he is now enormously proud of that. "I had a challenging time and could have given up during that period. But I decided not to and to keep fighting. I am enormously proud that I succeeded."

This determination was mainly due to his mother, who has always been a huge role model for him. "I was born when my mother was only seventeen, and she never gave up during that time. I never gave up, thanks to my mother's example back then. I often thought of her during the dark period, ultimately saving me."

And it is not only the strength of his mother that helped him but also how he restructured his life after his career. This is evident from the successful podcast The Move that he started. "At first, I had no idea how to start a podcast. I wasn't planning to talk about cycling, but I noticed many listeners appreciated my opinion on the sport, which gave me extra motivation to continue."

Despite his past, Armstrong has always remained a prominent voice in the world of cycling, and that position allows him to voice his opinion about the future of the Tour de France. "The organizers don't want to let go of their showpiece, and in my opinion, that is a disadvantage for the sport. If I were to ask my children to watch a Tour de France stage together, they would all say no."

"Cycling is simply an old-fashioned sport, which hasn't changed in recent years," the analyst continues. "The way I see it, I don't think much will change in the sport in the coming years. Watching a race all day is not appealing to young people. Young people only like it when something interesting happens."

Yet Armstrong himself remains full of praise for the sport and looks back on his time in the Tour with great pleasure. "I always considered the Tour de France to be my race. But now that I visit France more often, I feel that the Tour de France belongs to everyone, especially the French. I also really enjoy the country, and Paris in particular. The more often I come to Paris, the more I think about how wonderfully beautiful it is here."

Although the American has his life back on track, many people still would rather not have to face Armstrong. One of them is Igor González de Galdeano, who beat Armstrong in the GP du Midi-Libre. "It was the last stage, and I was second in the GC, just a few seconds behind him. I knew he wasn't feeling well, so I decided to attack. What I hadn't expected, however, was that he would insult me."

And the insults were harsh, the Spaniard continues. Whenever I attacked, he shouted things I won't repeat here. The rider was eventually supposed to be the second person to go up on the podium, but that was not allowed. "The race director told me that I was not allowed to go on the podium because Armstrong threatened that he would not go on the podium if I did," he said in the SERciclista podcast.