Despite his recent hints that he might return for another Tour de France, Lance Armstrong, its seven-time champion, said yesterday that the firestorm over allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs has prompted him to rule out a comeback.

"There is no way I could go to France and get a fair shake on the roads, in doping control or in the labs," Armstrong said on a conference call from his home in Austin, Tex. "There's no way I could go back there. I would be crazy."

Armstrong's comments were made amid a new round of bickering over allegations raised by the French newspaper L'Equipe last month. The paper reported that a French lab had found the blood-boosting drug EPO in six of Armstrong's 1999 urine samples that had been saved, frozen and recently tested for a research project. Even though the samples were anonymous, the article's author said he had paperwork that linked the coded samples with Armstrong.

A few weeks ago, after L'Equipe's article appeared, Armstrong said he was considering a comeback because he thought it was the best way to anger the French. He has since reconsidered.