Lance Armstrong has shared his views on the latest doping issues in sports  in an interview with The Times. He also talks about his time as a cheater and his weekly visits to a psychologist.

The 44-year-old Texan, who has been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and is suspended for life, has little confidence in the current generation of athletes. "You had a substance, EPO, that was so efficient and if they have an equivalent tomorrow that is undetectable, everyone would be on it.”

Is it not better to make doping legal? "That's a really bad idea," said Armstrong. "Then people will take huge risks. I have a son of 16 years, who is good at American football. I know what happens in that sport. I don't want to see him in that situation.

In addition to cycling and athletics, American Football is also struggling with a huge doping problem. Armstrong does not think the authorities want to get rid of the problem. "They do the same again. They think. If we blow this up, we will destroy our sport. Then they don't appear in a good light.

Armstrong also looks critically at himself and his confession to Oprah Winfrey in 2013 where he showed little remorse for his behaviour. 

“The thing I’d say now, that took me years to understand and that I didn’t understand then, is that Oprah came too soon. I was stuck and I wanted to get it out of the way, but it was too soon, it was still too fresh. I hadn’t worked through it all in my own head. I still haven’t," he told The Times.

"I’ve come to understand the tremendous sense of betrayal, from a lot of people, who feel I betrayed them because they trusted me. They supported me, they fought for me, they raised funds for me – they had my back. They felt like idiots. That’s a heavy burden to carry and live with."

In sporting terms, Armstrong feels less guilty. "None of my competitors think I'm a cheater. My former teammate Kevin Livingston said it best: Of the 190 riders in the Tour, 200 were using EPO.

"For seven years at US Postal our story was: we trained harder than the rest, we were better organized, had better tactics, a better team and better equipment. That was always true. We just didn't mention the last part: Doping.

Was doping was the decisive factor? "Of course not. Well, if no one else was using EPO, but everyone had it. It still makes me angry that people think I only won because of doping. That is simply not true."

Armstrong refuses to discuss his former team manager Johan Bruyneel. Out of loyalty. "I do not know if that's good or bad for me. That does not matter to me." And about his role as tyrant: “I didn’t stand over my team-mates telling them to dope. That’s 100 per cent false.

Finally, Armstrong says that he visits a psychologist weekly to keep his life in order. His wife joins him regularly and sometimes his children.

"I do not think that people have to be ashamed because you need to get coached during certain stages of your life or in your relationship with your family. Once I did a session with all my kids. That was interesting but for private reasons."