It was the sporting deception to end them all, and Lance Armstrong has admitted that he would still be lying about doping to this day had he not been unmasked two years ago.

The man who cheated his way to a record seven successive Tour de France triumphs after recovering from cancer revealed that he would never have come clean unless forced to do so.

"My therapy is riding my bike, playing golf and having a beer": Lance Armstrong. Credit:Reuters

In a telephone interview with CNN, the disgraced cyclist said: "Once you say 'No' you have to keep saying 'No'. If this stuff hadn't taken place with the federal investigation, I'd probably still be saying 'No' with the same conviction and tone as before. But that gig is up."

Armstrong, serving a life ban from sport, said that he would not have confessed even for the sake of his five children. "Well, that's a conversation for my kids. But there was a lot of stuff in that lie, not simply me saying 'No'. I couldn't change the story."