By Kaleb Page

January 29, 2015

Back in January 2013 a confession was made that not only rattled the cycling community, but also rattled fans around the world for this mega-star cyclist. That athlete being none other than U.S. cycling legend and seven time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. A man who so many gravitated to, even if they didn’t know anything about cycling, now sat on Oprah confessing he had been using performance-enhancing drugs.

In his first interview on television since that time in 2013, Armstrong had an interesting sit down with BBC Sport.

Now at age 43 and no longer the holder of a record seven Tour de France titles; Lance had this to say:

“If I was racing in 2015, no I wouldn’t do it again because I don’t think you have to,” Armstrong said, “If you take me back to 1995, when doping was completely pervasive, I would probably do it again.”

Quite the answer to hear from Armstrong after so many years out of the spotlight and having such the fall from grace that he did. This part of the video interview below shows Armstrong shedding light on the past. From what I could see, this was a man being honest as well as someone who looked to be serving the time to reflect on what they did.

I think this was good reporting by BBC Sport and a great piece in the works as the full documentary set to come out this Thursday on BBC News. This allowed for an update on what is happening since the last time we saw Armstrong in 2013 and how his demeanor has changed since then as well.

Another thing that struck me about this interview was something Armstrong said. He mentioned that even though what he did was wrong, at the same time the things associated to him saw growth that they had never seen prior. Whether it was his bike supplier, charity foundation or even the sport itself; Armstrong knew he made a big and helpful impact. Posing this question about all the good he did pretty well:

“Do we want to take it away (the growth/charity awareness)? I don’t think anybody says ‘yes’.” -Lance Armstrong

Is Armstrong going to be another one of those second chance stories we see all the time here in America? It still is too early to tell especially with a lot more legal battles to go between Armstrong and numerous other parties. I do see it happening where as time passes and the wounds heal Armstrong is placed back in the public eye.

For now it looks like he must wait for his chance at redemption. A chance I think he desperately wants and needs.