Phil Liggett has said he still admires Lance Armstrong, adding the American didn’t take drugs when he was training and could have won the Tour de France without drugs.
Liggett explained Armstrong would “wear out” his team mates when training in the mountains to the extent the other riders on his team were often stopped by team management from doing the same training as Armstrong.
Cycling commentator Liggett is the subject of a new documentary film about to be released in Australia and he has done a number of media interviews there in advance of the film's release.
Earlier this month he told the Sydney Morning Herald the first time he met Armstrong after Paul Sherwen died, Armstrong spoke to him in an unsympathetic and disrespectful manner.
However, in his latest interview – this time with 7News.com.au - Liggett has said Armstrong would have won the Tour even if he had not taken drugs.
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“When Lance realised that the Tour de France was
drug-ridden, he told his team ‘We’ll do it and we’ll do it better than they do
it’,” Liggett said.
“And if they didn’t agree, they were off the team. Most
of his team had to take drugs just to back him up ... because Lance was
exceptional.
“He would climb Alpe d’Huez, the most fabled mountain in
the Tour de France, in training with his team and when they got to the top,
which was over 5000 feet high, he would turn around and descend the 16km and
then climb it again.
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“But the management wouldn’t let the team do it because
Lance would wear the team out. He would wear them out when he went training, he
was that good.
“And he wasn’t taking drugs when he went training. He was
naturally just extremely good.”
Asked if Armstrong would win the Tour without drugs,
Liggett replied: “No question. Don’t forget he was racing against other drug
users.
“They also passed the drug test but the fact is the Tour
de France itself didn’t promote the second-place riders to wins, that’s
unprecedented.
“We’ve got seven Xs in the history books. All the guys
who finished second have all had drug involvement or controversial situations
but they were never nailed.
“But they didn’t give them Lance’s victories, there’s
simply no winners at the Tour de France for seven years, so they knew the guys
in second place took drugs but couldn’t prove it.
“It was a different world back then - guys were dying
left, right and centre. Young riders were dying.”
“I’ve got no mixed feelings, people say ‘You must hate
him’ - I would never hate Lance Armstrong at all.
“I still admire him, I know how he beat cancer, I know how he fought hard and that’s the mentality of the man who can only do things one way and that’s the very best way.”
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