Stephen Roche is in favour of Lance Armstrong’s return to the Tour de France

Not everyone would agree

There's a general feeling that you can kind of get away with almost anything if you attach the word's 'Ah shur it's for charity' afterwards as a justification. So it's OK to get really really drunk if you throw few euro in bucket or you can excuse making a total fool of yourself at work because it's all for a good cause right. Well it's that logic that seem to be applied to the announcement that Lance Armstrong is going to cycle the Tour de France route after he was asked to by former footballer Geoff Thomas as part of a charity initiative. The former England and Crystal Palace midfielder is hoping to raise money in the battle against leukaemia after being a suffer of the disease himself a number of years ago and he's enlisted the most notorious sportsman of all time in order to do so. Thomas is looking to raise money for his charity 'Cure Leukaemia' and has got plenty of abuse and support for his decision to get the American to agree to ride ahead of the peloton this summer. Ireland's only winner of the race, Stephen Roche, has defended Armstrong's decision to ride the route of Le Tour, a race he won seven times by his own admission while cheating. Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast, Roche feels that the Texan's still attractive for the general public, and if he asks them for money they will donate,e specially to a cancer charity,

'I know that people are going to despise me for saying so, but I think we have got to move on. I think that he faulted - he wasn't the only one that faulted - he's been punished. He'll be punished for the rest of his life for what he did. But there is a redemption somewhere as well. Where does it start? Does it start this year, next year, in ten years' time? Does it start by doing a charity cycle?'

Thomas' decision to try and get Armstrong on board has been met with disapproval from the general public and many within cycling. However the Irish cycling legend feels that Armstrong's motives are good and he should be allowed do something to rehabilitate his reputation

'I believe in what he's doing. I know that by having Lance involved with Geoff Thomas in his charity to generate funds for leukaemia - I think that his overall picture will be a lot brighter. He will bring in a lot more money for very, very worthy causes. It's about going forward. We can't change the past. We must use the past to make the future better.'

UCI president Brian Cookson voiced his disapproval for the planned event at a breakfast briefing over the weekend. The Englishman feels that any event associated with Armstrong is tainted by his past,

'I'm sure that Geoff Thomas means well, but frankly I think that's completely inappropriate and disrespectful to the Tour, disrespectful to the current riders, and disrespectful to the UCI and the anti-doping community.'

Roche's own son has previously suffered with cancer and the Dubliner feels that having experienced the disease with Florian, that he has a different less cynical view of why Armstrong is looking to contribute to the event. Roche feels that for cancer suffers any money donated is a help,

'I can speak from my heart because my son had leukaemia and he's on the straight now, thank God. And when you're involved with that, to see how far a euro goes, and how euros are lacking to fund research. So I'm speaking from a different perspective maybe than someone who just a general cyclist that's very disappointed in what Armstrong has done to the sport. So I know the power he has.'

H/T Newstalk