Lance Armstrong Comments on Tour de France, Chris Froome Doping Allegations

Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong was stripped of all of his titles in 2012 because of a doping scandal. Now, Armstrong has tweeted that the 2015 race leaders may not be clean, raising further doubt about the sport's ethics.

In an interview with Sky Sports on Wednesday, Armstrong expressed some remorse over what he'd said about current yellow jersey bearer Chris Froome and the other top performers:

"

I know what that is like for a guy like Chris to be in the middle of the Tour, to deal with the constant questions, which of course he is, and to be fair and to be honest, a lot of that is my fault. ...

... I feel bad about that. Whoever is winning the Tour de France in 2015 should not be answering questions about someone who won it 10 or 15 years ago. That's just not legitimate; that's just not fair. ...

... I have no regrets [about the tweets]. I was totally transparent and honest about it. I regret other tweets in my life but not those.

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Armstrong took to Twitter on Tuesday and appeared to at least imply suspicion that the Tour de France leaders weren't clean, but he later clarified his controversial remark:

Sky News' Paul Kelso weighed in on how Armstrong's tarnished legacy has impacted the current generation of cyclists:

The press has been asking Froome about doping, which is an inevitable consequence of Armstrong's fall from grace as the ultimate comeback story. It was extraordinary enough for Armstrong to get back on the bike after beating cancer, but the doping behind it diminished his tremendous accomplishments.

Armstrong has asserted doping is rampant in cycling, and it certainly was on his team during his heyday. It remains to be seen if similar cases will prove him to be correct.

Through 11 of the 21 Tour de France stages, Froome holds an overall lead of two minutes, 52 seconds over Tejay Van Garderen. The Team Sky star is going for his second triumph in the event in the past three years, with a long way still to tread to catch Armstrong's run of seven in a row.

Tom Cary of the Daily Telegraph reports Froome will open himself up to independent testing after the Tour de France to prove he's clean. Should he pass the tests and emerge victorious again, it will be hard for others to doubt Froome's legitimacy, and perhaps that can enhance the overall image of cycling.