Lance Armstrong claims he's the Voldemort of cycling

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Voldemort, left, and Lance Armstrong

Disgraced but defiant, Lance Armstrong says he has no more doping secrets, but on the eve of returning to the scene of his greatest tainted triumphs the seven-time Tour de France winner says he feels the sting of being international cycling's persona non grata, sportskeeda.com reported.

In fact, Armstrong — who will ride in fellow cancer survivor and former English soccer star Geoff Thomas’ charity bike ride, "A Day Ahead," before this year's Tour — compared himself to Voldemort, the fictional character in the Harry Potter series who is referred to as "He who must not be named." 

Not only has Armstrong's name been wiped clean from cycling's record books, but it's also as if he never existed, despite his domination of cycling at a time when he clearly wasn't the only one using performance enhancing drugs.

“Who's that character in Harry Potter they can't talk about? Voldemort? It's like that on every level,” Armstrong said.  “If you watch the Tour on American TV, if you read about it, it's just as if you can't mention him. And that will not be the case forever, because it can't be the case forever. That won't work. People aren't stupid.

“When you look at the history books, everybody at this table knows what went on in the 1990s and 2000s, but if you see the results and you still see there are no winners, there's a bunch of seconds, thirds, fourths, fifths, that all just doesn't make any sense. Ten years from now, people aren't going to accept that.

Armstrong, 43, says his cycling career and life in general are an open book, claiming that he has cooperated with every investigation by every governing body and has nothing to hide nor anyone to protect.

A collection of his comments from the sportskeeda.com interview would bear that out.

On the various doping investigations: “At this point, after a federal investigation, a criminal investigation, a civil investigation, a federal agency, the threat of perjury and jail, an anti-doping agency threatening lifetime bans, books — we have got it all. Trust me, it’s all there. If we don’t know it by now then I missed it. If the question gets asked, I’m going to answer the question. It’s not like I’m going to protect anybody. At this point?”

On potential hostility in France for Thomas' ride: “I could be wrong — I've been wrong plenty in my life — but I've been to France since all this happened and if you walk into a cafe or a restaurant or walk down the street, that's not the reaction I get. People think I have this bitter relationship with the country, with its people. I like going there. I love France. The people are what they are. It's like any place. Some people are cool, some people aren't cool.

On criticism by international cycling leaders of his riding in France: “I don't know (Union Cycliste International President) Brian Cookson. I've never met him, never really had a conversation with him, don't know what his vision is for the sport. I don't know if he is even able to form a vision. I don't know anything about the man. But I do know that me and Geoff riding in France for this cause is the least of his problems.”

On the current state of international cycling: “I absolutely don't think cycling is in a better place. You guys (the media) can decide if (Cookson has) done a good job … whether he's stuck with his mission statement. Plenty of people would argue he's laid down on a lot of things. If he is making public comments, he needs to be talking about other things because this sport is not in a good place for a variety of reasons. A lot of it has to do — perhaps some would say — with me. But he doesn't need to worry about this (charity ride).”

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