Lance Armstrong has said that he wishes that he came in to a different generation, a different era, a different environment of cycling,
Armstrong was speaking in an eighty minute podcast with former team mates George Hincapie, Christian Vande Velde, George Hincapie and Dylan Casey, whom he raced the 24 Hours Of Old Pueblo mountain bike race with, last week.
In the podcast, Armstrong took questions via social media and one asked if he would do everything he did during his cycling career all over again .
"It's a fair question, but at 45 yeas old, do you want to go back and evaluate what you did at 22 and 25? It's tough, so where I always end up on this is that to me, the wish that I had, was that I came into a different generation, a different era, a different environment," Armstrong said.
"We didn't think we were heading over to what we were heading over to. There's been a lot of regret about the whole situation but we do not lack the regret that we stepped into the environment. Yes, we made the mistakes that we all well know but if I could change one thing, I'd say, 'Boys, here's our bottle of water, here's a bag of bread, lets go.' I'm me, and I'm biased, but I don't think the results change, so yeah, I certainly would love . I'm not trying to opine on the current state of cycling, because I don't know it. But of course, on a truly level playing field, I'd love to toe that line."
George Hincapie was as equally open and said: "I definitely agree that it was tough being thrown into that generation of cycling.
"Fortunately and unfortunately for many reasons, I was a professional cyclist for 20 years, so I can arguably say I was in a couple of different generations. But I will say with 100 per cent certainty, that I was very lucky to be part of and ridden with the best cyclists in the history of the sport in those 20 years. I mean Lance, Contador, Cadel Evans, Mark Cavendish. I saw it all.
"We talk about what happened 20 years ago, Yes, cycling was really f*cked up then. But I truly believe we saw a lot of changes, and I truly believe I was able to ride the best of the best. I do believe the sport has changed a lot since what happened 20 years ago and is definitely in a better place than it was 20 years ago. I know I made mistakes but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I know I was part of a f*cked-up generation, but at the same time, I met my wife at the 2003 Tour de France."
Pictures copyright of CNS Sport.
Article by Kev Monks for Digital Sports Group.
Source: DSG
