Lance Armstrong agrees to pay $5 mln back to US government

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Lance Armstrong will pay five million US dollars to the US government to settle a long-running lawsuit that could have cost him as much as 100 million dollars in damages.

The former Tour de France champion, who was stripped of all seven of his Tour de France titles after admitting to using performance-enhancing drugs in 2012, was accused of fraud while riding for the publicly funded US Postal Service team.

"I'm glad to resolve this case and move forward with my life," Armstrong, who failed to block the lawsuit last year and had a trial set for May 7 in Washington, said in a statement after agreeing to pay the settlement amount.

In a statement on Thursday, he mentioned that he was "particularly glad to have made peace with the Postal Service," despite believing their lawsuit was "without merit and unfair."

US rider Lance Armstrong (US Postal/USA) during the fifth stage of the 91st Tour de France cycling race on July 8, 2004. /VCG Photo

"I have since 2013 tried to take full responsibility for my mistakes, and make amends wherever possible," the 46-year-old cyclist added.

Incidentally, it was Armstrong's former US Postal teammate Floyd Landis who filed the lawsuit in 2010 and was later joined by the US government in 2013.

Landis was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title after testing positive for a banned substance. However, he is eligible to receive 25 percent of the settlement as the original claimant. Meanwhile, Armstrong has conceded to pay 1.65 million US dollars to cover his former teammate's legal fees.

Between 1999 and 2005, Armstrong won seven Tour titles as part of the US Postal Service team.