Lance Armstrong Blasts Fellow Cheater A-Rod: ‘Alex Rodriguez Didn’t Raise Half A Billion Dollars’

PAU, FRANCE - JULY 20: American Lance Armstrong with team RadioShack rides in a breakaway during stage 16 of the Tour de France on July 20, 2010 in Pau, France. Armstrong started the ride between Bagneres-de-Luchon and Pau in 31st place. French rider Pierrick Fedrigo won the stage while Alberto Contador retained the yellow jersey. The iconic bicycle race will include a total of 20 stages and will cover 3,642km before concluding in Paris on July 25.  (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Getty Image / Spencer Platt / Staff


Lance Armstrong is still not over the fact that he got busted for using performance-enhancing drugs, which resulted in him having his entire empire ripped away from him. Now Armstrong is saying there was unjust punishment for his cheating compared to how Alex Rodriguez was treated after he was caught using PEDs.

The professional road racing cyclist was stripped of his seven Tour de France wins because he was caught using PEDs. Armstrong agreed to pay the Justice Department $5 million to settle a lawsuit where the U.S. Postal Service claimed that his cheating caused them to not get what they paid for when they sponsored his team during the Tour de France.

Armstrong alleges that there is a “double standard” for the harsh way that he was treated compared to how the public treated A-Rod. In a new interview on Today, Armstrong noted how he is still paying the consequences of using performance-enhancing drugs whereas fellow cheater A-Rod is largely beloved in his retirement and still receiving business opportunities.

“Alex Rodriguez didn’t raise half a billion dollars and try to save a bunch of people’s lives,” Armstrong said, referencing his Livestrong nonprofit organization that provides support for people battling cancer. “That’s kind of the irony of this. Look, it’s great when somebody hits home runs and maybe does an event here and there for the Girls and Boys Club. This story held a place in people’s hearts and minds that was way beyond those guys.” Of course another way to not be treated worse than a cheater is to not cheat yourself.

Rodriguez served a one-year suspension for his repeated PED use after he was exposed from the Biogenesis scandal. On August 5, 2013, MLB suspended Rodriguez from August 8 through the end of the 2014 season for violating the PED policy. Since retiring from baseball on August 12, 2016, A-Rod has been a special advisor to the New York Yankees as well as an analyst for ESPN and FOX Sports, plus he appeared on Shark Tank.

But it should be noted that A-Rod is not exactly beloved in New York City after his numerous playoff failures and opting out of his 10-year, $252 million contract with the Yankees in 2007, despite earlier saying he would not opt out. Rodriguez would sign a new mega 10-year, $275 million contract, which would see him suspended for PEDs during it and was so worthless in 2016 that the Yankees had to buy out the rest of his exorbitant contract.

Meanwhile, Armstrong has had to completely reinvent himself since he has been banished from the cycling world by doing podcasts. “The last 6 years, in a lot of ways, has really sucked,” the disgraced athlete told Andrew Sorkin. “I do think there’s a double standard. But I’m OK with it.” Narrator: “He is not OK with it.”

Lance Armstrong, who was banned from cycling back in 2012, also said that he is financially surviving only because he invested in Uber years ago. There is no law that states there can only be one asswipe cheating athlete at the same time, you’re allowed to have two at the same time.

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[NYP]