Lance Armstrong is adamant he “wouldn’t change a thing” about his doping regime which helped him to seven Tour de France wins and led to his spectacular fall from grace.
Armstrong was banned for life from cycling in 2012 and has faced a series of costly lawsuits since, including a £3.5million payout to the US Government last year.
But in an interview with NBC Sports, the American said: “We did what we had to do to win. It wasn’t legal but I wouldn’t change a thing, whether it’s losing a bunch of money, or going from hero to zero.”
Armstrong was outed by former team-mates as part of a US Anti-Doping Agency investigation, and in January 2013 he admitted his use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs in an interview with Oprah Winfrey.
In the NBC interview to be shown on Wednesday called Lance Armstrong: The Next Stage, he said: “It was a mistake, it led to a lot of other mistakes.
"It led to the most colossal meltdown in the history of sport. I wouldn’t change a thing. I wouldn’t change the way I acted. I mean I would but this is a longer answer.
“Primarily, I wouldn’t change the lessons that I’ve learned. I don’t learn all the lessons if I don’t act that way. I don’t get investigated and sanctioned if I don’t act the way I acted.”
