Lance Armstrong hits out at critics, insists 'no generation was clean'

Lance Armstrong has attacked the hypocrisy and "petty bullshit" surrounding cycling's doping scandal, saying he feels he has been made a fall-guy for the entire sport.

Armstrong, speaking for the first time since the controversial Oprah interview in which he admitted doping throughout his career, insisted no previous generation of cyclists was "exempt or clean".

He also renewed his call for Wada, the World Anti-Doping Agency, to set up a truth and reconciliation programme, insisted that the UCI should play no part in it – branding its president Pat McQuaid "pathetic" – and said it must be wide-ranging: "If you are alive today and you podiumed in a GT, WC, or Grand Tour then you should be called."

Speaking to Cyclingnews, Armstrong said: "My generation was no different than any other. The 'help' has evolved over the years but the fact remains that our sport is damn hard, the Tour was invented as a stunt, and very tough motherfuckers have competed for a century and all looked for advantages.

"From hopping on trains 100 years ago to EPO now. No generation was exempt or 'clean'. [Not that of] Merckx, not Hinault, not LeMond, not Coppi, not Gimondi, not Indurain, not Anquetil, not Bartali, and not mine."

- Guardian.co.uk