Sir Bradley Wiggins hits out at Lance Armstrong

Britain's Sir Bradley Wiggins said he was "sad and angry" after former cyclist Lance Armstrong admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs. The 2012 Tour de France winner watched Armstrong confess in a television interview with Oprah Winfrey. "It was quite sad really, sad for the sport but then the anger kicks in," said Wiggins. "This was someone I admired for so long and looked up to," he added. Wiggins, aged 32, watched the interview with his seven-year-old son as Armstrong ended years of denials by admitting he cheated during all seven of his Tour de France wins between 1999-2005. "I was slightly emotional just watching him after he lied for so long, so convincingly," Wiggins said. "To watch him just cave in and say 'yes' to those first six questions was quite sad. But there's hope, isn't there? Because I won the Tour de France! And my son knows I'm never going to have to have that conversation with him like when Lance broke down and his son, at 13, asked him 'Is it true?' And that's something I'm incredibly proud of." Wiggins finished fourth in the 2009 Tour de France, just behind Armstrong, and now he feels the American "robbed" him of a place on the podium. Wiggins was then promoted to third place in October 2012 although Armstrong, who was stripped of all his results by cycling's governing body the UCI, denies taking drugs after returning to the sport in 2009 following his retirement four years earlier. Wiggins said: "I remember doing an interview on the Champs Elysees saying that 'I don't mind admitting it but I've been beaten by three much better riders and I'm happy to be in their company and finish fourth'. I look back now and he certainly robbed me of maybe third place in the Tour de France and standing on that podium and experiencing what that was like." Fellow Team Sky rider Chris Froome, who was runner-up to Wiggins in 2012, said he hopes cycling can move on from the undeniable damage that Armstrong has done. "All of us professionals, who are doing it properly at the moment, we're all angry that we're now being painted with the same brush if you like", Froome said. "He's done a lot of harm to the sport. For me, personally, I think the faster people can move on from it, the better it will be for the sport and hopefully, learn from it - learn exactly what he was doing - and make sure there's absolutely no way it would ever happen again." Both Wiggins and Froome will take part in this year's Tour de France but the bookmakers at Bet365 have Spaniard Alberto Contador as favourite, priced at 10/11 for an outright win, with Froome priced at 5/2 and Wiggins at 9/1.