THE THREE-TIME Tour de France winner Greg LeMond has slammed Lance Armstrong’s drug confession as tarnishing the past champions of cycling.
With Armstrong’s seven titles wiped from the history books, LeMond becomes the only American winner of the tour – in 1986, 1989 and 1990.
But the 51-year-old felt no pride at Armstrong’s revelations in an interview with TV host Oprah Winfrey.
“Armstrong has destroyed anyone who has been successful in cycling,” LeMond told Cyclingnews. ”I get pissed off when I hear that you can’t win the Tour without doping. Look at Andy Hampsten (winner of the 1988 Giro d’Italia, third in the 1989 Giro and fourth in the Tour in 1986 and 1992) – there was no way he was on any doping program.”
LeMond believes that Armstrong’s natural talent was ‘average’ and that he couldn’t have won the Tour De France clean because he wasn’t the super-talented athlete he made himself out to be.
“If Armstrong had given Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton the same stuff he was taking, he would never have won – they would have beaten him,” he said.
While LeMond believes in forgiveness, he was not convinced by Armstrong’s confession and stated that he had huge doubts about his compatriot’s intentions.
“I didn’t see the need for redemption, the remorse of someone who is truly sorry,” he said. ”I was impressed by Oprah’s questions; it was the ideal way to see the real Armstrong. It shed a light on him and I think people could see he is not remorseful.”
