Lance Armstrong Enjoys Life after Le Tour

If you thought Lance Armstrong can't wait to step up in the cycling zone again, you were wrong. Actually, it's more than that. The 7-time Tour de France champion said that, especially in the final years of his career, he "hated the competition.

Although this may come as a surprise to cyclist fans all over the world, the American stated that he doesn't miss the sport at all, and that he is certainly not to return to compete.

"I don't miss it at all. I miss the training. I miss the team atmosphere. I miss my guys. But the last couple of years I would even say I hated racing. The only peaceful times were when I was at training camps, alone or with a few team mates, or at the races, in the hotel room, at the dinner table with my guys. That's the stuff I really love. I won't miss the Tour", said Armstrong.

And that's really how several world champions feel like… at least in the team-like sports. Still, he admitted that the Tour de France was the only competition that he considered to be worth fighting for, and did not hesitate to say that it was the only thing he has lived for: "The Tour is all I did. It's all I lived for. It's probably not fair to answer that question until we get to July. I mean, in July I may start pulling my hair out, 'cause it's the one race that I lived for. But I suspect not. I know that I can never go back".

Rumors about him entering into the politics arena were all over the media earlier this year. Still, he said it will be pretty soon to make that step, even if part of him thinks he should do it: "I've seen a level of cynicism and dirty play in sport that I don't ever want to see again, and I think politics is maybe 100 times worse".

As he was cleared from drug abuse accusations concerning his 1999 Tour de France win, Armstrong said that life surely tastes better now. Weighting 8 kilograms more than he did last year, he admitted that: "For 20 years I lived like a monk, but now if you open a bottle of red, I'll be the first one at the table".