Armstrong settles case and appears at peace
los angeles — Ruthless, relentless and manipulative in his days as the godfather of the Tour de France peloton, Lance Armstrong, insisted that he is at peace as he settled a law suit.
Armstrong’s lawyer, Elliott Peters, said on Thursday that the former cyclist had agreed to pay $5 million to end a $100 million federal fraud case stemming from his drug-fuelled reign as king of the Tour de France.
Peters also released a statement from Armstrong suggesting he wanted to turn the page. “I’m looking forward to devoting myself to the many great things in my life,” said Armstrong.
Yet he gave a glimpse of his famous combativeness as he added: “While I believe that their lawsuit against me was without merit and unfair, I have since 2013 tried to take full responsibility for my mistakes.”
It was a mea culpa unimaginable a few years ago when Armstrong ruled the Tour with a will and a stare of steel. At 46, he is presenting a different face. Armstrong rise in cycling was all the more remarkable because doctors had given the promising youngster, already a world champion, a less than 50 per cent chance of survival, when he was diagnosed in 1996 with testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain.
He persevered through surgery and chemotherapy and returned to the Tour as a changed rider in 1999, winning by more than seven-and-a-half minutes. —