[size=-1]However Armstrong - who retired from the saddle following his seventh Tour de France success in 2005 - said his treatment contrasted sharply to that accorded to French climbing specialist Richard Virenque, who was embroiled in the Festina drug scandal that virtually brought the 1998 Tour de France to a standstill.[/size]
[size=-1]"Jean-Marie Leblanc (the outgoing head of the Tour de France) never misses an opportunity to criticize me. I am sorry but with Virenque, we have the biggest rogue of the last 50 years in terms of doping. And today he is the hero of Leblanc.[/size]
[size=-1]"I am not criticizing Richard, who played the media game and is a real 'showman', whereas I am not," Armstrong said. "The Tour is angry because its history has been eclipsed by an American winning it seven times.[/size]
[size=-1]"Bernard Hinault (five-time winner of the Tour de France) would not have had the same problems as me because he is French," the American said.[/size]
[size=-1]Armstrong, who has never had a good relationship with the French fans, reiterated that while angered by the allegations made in L'Equipe he would leave it at that.[/size]
[size=-1]"It is the biggest dream of the laboratory (Chatenay-Malabry) and of[/size]
[size=-1]L'Equipe that I sue them. But I am not going to fulfil their dream, sorry," said Armstrong, who added the independent inquiry set up by the sport's governing body the UCI into how the leak came about was sufficient.[/size]
[size=-1]"Jean-Marie Leblanc (the outgoing head of the Tour de France) never misses an opportunity to criticize me. I am sorry but with Virenque, we have the biggest rogue of the last 50 years in terms of doping. And today he is the hero of Leblanc.[/size]
[size=-1]"I am not criticizing Richard, who played the media game and is a real 'showman', whereas I am not," Armstrong said. "The Tour is angry because its history has been eclipsed by an American winning it seven times.[/size]
[size=-1]"Bernard Hinault (five-time winner of the Tour de France) would not have had the same problems as me because he is French," the American said.[/size]
[size=-1]Armstrong, who has never had a good relationship with the French fans, reiterated that while angered by the allegations made in L'Equipe he would leave it at that.[/size]
[size=-1]"It is the biggest dream of the laboratory (Chatenay-Malabry) and of[/size]
[size=-1]L'Equipe that I sue them. But I am not going to fulfil their dream, sorry," said Armstrong, who added the independent inquiry set up by the sport's governing body the UCI into how the leak came about was sufficient.[/size]