Lance Armstrong, the American cyclist who is currently making a shock comeback after three years in retirement, has spoken out about his fears of being attacked by angry spectators during the Tour de France next year.

For many years, Armstrong was a dominant force in the world of cycling and he managed to win the Tour de France seven times during his career. However, certain fans of the cyclist lost faith in him after it was claimed that he had used performance enhancing drugs.

Although an independent investigation, which was set up after the French magazine, L’Equipe, revealed that Armstrong’s urine samples had shown traces of the substance called EPO, found the cyclist to be innocent, doubts still remain over the validity of his previous numerous successes.

The cyclist, who is thirty-seven years of age, believes that some people in France remain “aggressive [and] angry” and he is worried that his safety “could be in jeopardy” as a result of such strong feelings. Armstrong has revealed that he understands why people remain uncertain about his past but believes that he has been victimised by the media and the anti-drugs authorities.

Armstrong’s fears are actually based on something which happened during the Tour de France during the 1970s. The Belgian legend, Eddy Merckx, was punched by a French spectator who was unhappy that the cyclist was threatening the record held by the Frenchman, Jacques Anquetil.

Whilst Merckx was cycling along an important part of the route, a spectator broke through the crowd and hit him, an event which denied him a record-breaking victory.