Lance Armstrong explains why he chose 'nuclear meltdown' in ESPN 30 for 30 documentary

Seven years on from the collapse of Lance Armstrong's empire, is the 48-year-old disgraced cyclist still relevant?

It's the question that starts part two of the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary Lance, set to premiere on Monday night.

Armstrong is asked point blank by director Marina Zenovich: "Do you feel like you want to be relevant again?"

"This is going to sound terrible but I am relevant, I am," Armstrong responded. "And I get, I know that every headline starts with disgraced or disgraceful or some version of that word disgrace. The story is so polarising and it will always be that way, and I know that. So by knowing that, I don't expect that to change, I don't want it to change, I don't will it to change ... it's complicated."

The release of part one last week dragged Armstrong back into the public consciousness. One of the big takeaways for many was how anyone could have believed a seven-time winner of the Tour de France raced clean when the sport was so riddled with drug-taking.

While the speculation was always there that he may have had a performance boost, part two illuminates the rise of the myth of Armstrong, which was torn down in his explosive downfall in 2013 after he'd told "10,000 lies".

THE RISE OF ARMSTRONG

As the man who survived stage four testicular cancer and bounced back to win seven Tour de France titles, Armstrong was an inspiration to many.

From a best selling book, to his face on a Wheaties box, to a lucrative contract with Nike, the money machine behind Armstrong was intense.

"People like to pick apart the book but everything in that book is true, except for when I address doping and take a position against it and take a position against people who were accusing me of it," he said. "Everything else is true. I was like I can never be honest about this because all of this momentum and profitability and goodness will come crashing down."

But instead of laughing off the attacks, Armstrong steered into his denials.

The web of lies continued to build and some believe it even extended into his charity work with his cancer organisation Livestrong.

"Getting cancer is a really f***ing scary thing and when you emerge from the other end, it's pretty cool and you want other people to realise you've got hope in your life," former editor of VeloNews Charles Pelkey said. "Frankly he had the resources to turn that into something that benefited a lot of people.

"But if it wasn't a cynical tool from the start, I think towards the middle and on, it was. We used to refer to it as the cancer shield."

ESPN senior writer Bonnie Ford added that it added to the myth of Armstrong.

"It certainly was an influence in the way people thought about him and their unwillingness to believe it could even be possible that he was doping," she said.

Armstrong hit back at the claims. "It is unfair to say I used Livestrong as a shield," he said. "The organisation was too legitimate, we did too many good things, too much good work.

"Now I do think and I'll admit that I used cancer as a shield, which is just f***ing stupid. In hindsight, cycling and cancer should have been kept separate."

ATTACKS AND LIES

It was through this prism Armstrong used to deny doping, taking aim at anyone who would challenge his cleanliness in the sport.

It doesn't diminish Armstrong's impact on the world of cancer but it was more the way he went after those doping.

Former Olympic gold medallist Tyler Hamilton, a former teammate of Armstrong during the 1999, 2000 and 2001 Tours, left to try and win cycling's most famous event for himself.

"In 2004 in a warm up race for the Tour de France, I beat him in this time trial up Mont Ventoux, and I heard from sources that he was pissed," he said. "He called the UCI, that's what I was told, and said 'you've got to get this guy'. And sure enough, they called that night. I don't know, it most likely happened. If I had to guess one way or the other, I'd guess yes that he had something to do with me getting caught."

Despite knowing he was ruining lives and livelihoods, Armstrong said he had "no problem" looking at himself in the mirror.

He also revealed how lying became second nature to defend his kingdom.

"Nobody dopes and is honest, you're not," he said. "The only way you can ever dope and be honest is if nobody ever asks you, which is not realistic. The second somebody asks you, you lie. Now there might be one lie because you're answered it once, or in my case it might be 10,000 lies because you've answered it 10,000 times.

"And then you take it a step further and you reinforce it, 'hey f*** you, don't ever f***ing ask me that question again', and then you go sue someone."

'WOULDN'T CHANGE A THING'

In 2012, the walls came tumbling down when a 1000-page affidavit from other riders on Armstrong's doping came to light and could no longer be denied. Nike ended its contracts with Armstrong and many of his other sponsors followed suit.

While Armstrong is flippant about the collapse of his empire in a 48-hour window, former pro cyclist Paul Willerton said it shows he hadn't learned anything from his fall from grace.

"To Lance Armstrong, that was lost income to him to this day which tells me he hasn't learned these lessons to this day," Willerton said. "He still is justifying everything he did because he's talking about that loss of income as the price that he paid. If I was a bank robber and I got caught, what would you think if I said to you 'you cost me $100 million of income'."

Armstrong also believed the Livestrong organisation should have stood by him but he was ousted as chairman. Despite it all slipping through his fingers, Armstrong said "I wouldn't change a thing".

"I've said it multiple times and I'm going to say it again, I wouldn't change a thing, so I don't wish I made a deal with (USADA CEO) Travis Tygart because if you think about it, there are three potential outcomes here," Armstrong said.

"First is nothing happens — I never get investigated, the feds never investigate, USADA never investigate and I just keep going the way I was going — I don't want that.

"Option two is a hybrid of that and where we sit today which is you struck a deal. Travis gives you whatever the suspension was, he says nice things about you, he maybe calls some of your sponsors and says please support him and you kind of get a pass.

"Option three is the one I chose where it's like 'nope, f*** you, I'm going to kick you're a**, bring it on' and I lose everything. So I'm going to say it again, I wouldn't change a thing.

"Option one and option two don't get me to the place I am sitting right here. I needed a f***ing nuclear meltdown. And I got it."