Lance Armstrong admits Floyd Landis’ US$100 million lawsuit could ruin him

Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong admits he will risk financial ruin when his US$100 million whistleblower lawsuit goes before a jury in the United States later this year.

The latest of the American’s many legal problems has seen his former US Postal Service teammate Floyd Landis, the man whose evidence helped to expose Armstrong’s doping offences, bring a case to court for damages.

Due to the team being sponsored by the American post office, the US federal government has joined Landis in claiming US$100 million, one third of which would be awarded to Landis himself for originally bringing the suit.

Armstrong, who revealed he has sought counselling following his public doping confession, is confident of victory in the legal battle, but the fallen seven-time Tour de France winner concedes he is worried.

“I mean, the whistleblower case is a US$100 million case. If I lost, we would not be sitting at this table anymore,” Armstrong told a group of journalists at his home in Aspen, Colorado.

“We wouldn’t be sitting in this home anymore. We wouldn’t be sitting in any home. I don’t have US$100 million.

“We like our case, is all I will say. I’m not going to jinx myself. But I don’t know. How do you guys see it? Say the jury says: ‘Pay up US$100 million.’ Floyd Landis gets US$33 million.

“Is everybody at this jury happy with that? I would think what everybody thinks. There’s no logic to that.”