Lance Armstrong says he wouldn’t need to dope in 2015

whilst I think it is valid to look at speed as one measure it does hide since LA won the vast improvements in bike technology, fitness etc.

So for example you stick a LA on his third tour form on a bike today what could he do then ?

Also and this has been said how much did LA hold back so the gap between him and others did not look out of place ?

PS Source for those general numbers, plus more detail if you're interested:

http://bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdfstats.html

Lance wouldn't need to dope in 2015? Really?

Speed over distance is one posited (and often accepted) way to track the use of performance-enhancing drugs in cycling. Lance won his Tours, which were between 3,200 and 3,600-ish km long, at average speeds of between 39.5 and 40.5 kph.

Given the difference EPO made when it first appeared, it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect a dropping-off of average speeds, or at least a levelling out, if drug use has been curtailed. Instead, we get faster.

Jump forward a decade or so from Lance's pomp: the 2013 and 2014 editions of the Tour, both over 3,600 km long, are won at average winner's speeds of over 40.5 kph.

I'm no fan of or apologist for Lance, but I do think he's been turned into the bogeyman, a catch-all for the 'cycling's changed' gang. Perhaps it's time for the cycling world to look at the nature of events, especially the grand tours? Is it even possible for a clean rider to do more than keep up, maybe have one or two good days, over such distances and at such speeds?

We love the drama of riders contesting hard roads after 200 km of riding, the whittling-down to a final few before one cyclist breaks away, unmatchable. Every time I see that happen, part of me is thrilled - but my logical brain is telling me it's not possible to be so dominant, not with 2,000 km of racing already in your legs.

Until the big races become more human in scale, more achievable by un-doped riders, I think this problem might always be with us. That's why I now find myself increasingly drawn to one-day races; I know they're not immune to doping, they have many of the same riders I suspect from grand tours - but at least I feel it's possible that someone clean could win them. This is flawed logic, of course, but I love cycle sport, and I want to watch something!

I think he has some good points and I personally didnt like his bullying tactics - but that just happens in any professional situation (particularly sport). Whether we like it or not, he still has big interest - perhaps he starting to show some atonement here? I think he still needs to go further and use his draw to promote something positive - like David Millar did. It is a good motivation to think of his kids too. I was watching an DVD of his tdf rides and they are still great entertainment and I have kind of come to the conclusion that they were pretty much all doping - USP were just the best at it. The Team Sky of their day - but with doping.

He gets the attention because he gets the discussion. David Walsh made the valid point that actually this only happens in Europe, the US is really not bothered with him.

He is the biggest fraudster in world sporting history, he made millions from the fraud and the cancer charity and thus that makes his story and what he has to say interesting.

Why does the media continue to give this attention-seeking, lying, slandering has-been fraudster any publicity?

As Michael Hutchinson tweeted earlier,

"A man of few regrets, apart from getting caught."

Cycling is better off without him. I wish he would just f**k off and take his huge ego somewhere else.

Normally I avoid Armstrong stuff, but the two-part article in the last Rouleur and the one just out has been genuinely interesting.

I am growing disillusioned with the BBC. Recently all they have focused on is Wiggo and Cav and their tracks ambitions and now this. There's a whole lot more pro cycling that they could report.

Lance needs to shut up and go fish. After what he did he has no right to comment on the sport.

I was amazed that this was a story on BBC national news, a good way up the running order. He hasn't got anything useful or interesting to say, he's totally self-absorbed, and it's time to move on.

I realise I'm a hypocrite saying move on, but commenting on an Armstrong story. Sorry.

And I think he still believes if he were somehow allowed to race again he could make a comeback and win some big races. Yeah right. He's got some nerve. He's too old first off the new peloton wouldn't ride with him and Contador would crucify him. Soon LA will be filling himself with drugs again as he gets older and older, as old people do to stay alive. Ooooh the irony. He is certainly a class act to watch. I shall be watching. I hope he squirms when he is asked why he treated those close to him so badly i.e. Frankie and Betsy Andreu. For treating them so badly he deserves EVERYTHING he gets. For the rest he has shattered many a memory and dream. He wasn't the first and won't be the last but he was one of the most prolific and feared dopers of that time. Good riddance.

He's like an immature 15 year old who hasn't yet grasped that responsibility is just part of freedom, and somehow imagines that blaming others makes him look better.

How many peoples lives are/were ruined by the likes of scumbag global Banksters who went scot-free after the financial crises? DOJ here in the states flatly said, too big to jail.

Funny how there is NO punishment for people who committed REAL crimes and are not talked about, are not persecuted are not mentioned. It's un-fucking believable the amount of illogical rhetoric spewed for a bunch of men playing sports.

The bullying argument makes little sense. It's arbitrarily deciding who is very guilty and who is perceived not as guilty even though so many were fucking using ped's. The statist-mentality....kills me.

Uhm, yeah, well that guy over there, he just murdered someone in cold blood. But this guy he tortured, raped then murdered...so he is really a bad guy. But the murderer well he is bad, but it doesn't bother me so much...

For me its not the doping issue as (in most sports) it was rampant and often with the tacit agreement of those in charge. It was the character assignations of anybody who got in his way and the way he could almost do anything by bullying and threatening those who tried to stand up to him. How many peoples lives reputations and livelihoods has he ruined in his pursuit of glory?

LA will be criticized when he lies or tells the truth.

The only thing I don't like about him is his bullying.

People just love to hate him.

He probably has a point re the East Germans etc, they had state sponsorship and government research labs.

Douche - still can't admit 2009 despite the evidence. Only once he accepts that will redemption be in his grasp.

He needs to stop blaming other people and look at himself more.