Thursday 16 July 2015 11:30, UK
Lance Armstrong says it is his fault that Chris Froome has to answer questions about doping at the Tour de France and admits he "feels bad about it".
Armstrong was speaking exclusively to Sky Sports News HQ upon his arrival in southern France, ahead of his participation in a charity ride taking place one day ahead of the Tour.
Froome faced questions doping after stretching his overall race lead to 2min 52sec with a commanding victory on Tuesday's 10th stage.
Armstrong said: "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.
"A lot of people ask those questions, they see his style, they see his performance, they see the time gaps, they see the cadence and they think, 'This guy is just another one of them'.
"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."
Although sympathising with Froome, Armstrong said he did not regret posting an ambiguous tweet in the wake of the Briton’s win on stage 10 that read: "Clearly Froome/Porte/Sky are very strong. Too strong to be clean? Don't ask me, I have no clue."
Armstrong insisted he was merely answering questions from his followers and was disappointed with the way his words had been interpreted.
He added: "Anything I have to say about a bike race is going to be closely scrutinised and questioned. I get those questions all the time and the question is, 'Can this be believed? Are these guys clean? Is everybody like you, Lance?'
"I was simply answering a question. I put it out there as, 'Don't ask me that question because I don't know that answer'. I tried to clarify it even later, saying, 'I don't have any credibility on that issue, I know that, and furthermore, I don't really care'. That's not my role to opine about that.
"I had other comments and thoughts about the stage that I said, but by simply throwing it out there that I don't know, don't ask me, that somehow translated into, 'These guys are dirty', which is the last thing I want to say because I don't know that.
"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."
