London - Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong says he is afraid of being attacked by spectators if he competes in the 2009 edition of the race.

"I don't want to enter an unsafe situation but you see this stuff coming out of France. There are some aggressive, angry emotions. If you believe what you read my personal safety could be in jeopardy," Armstrong told Tuesday's Guardian newspaper.

"Cycling is a sport of the open road and spectators are lining that road. I try to believe that people, even if they don't like me, will let the race unfold."

The 37-year-old retired from the sport in 2005 after winning his seventh Tour in succession but has become a hate figure for many in France, not least because of a commonly held belief that he achieved his feat with the help of performance-enhancing drugs.

"I understand people in France and in cycling might have that perception but the reality is that there's nothing there," said Armstrong.

"The level of scrutiny I've had throughout my career from the press and the anti-doping authorities is unmatched. I've got nothing to hide. I won seven Tours through hard work."

In 2005, French newspaper L'Equipe reported one of Armstrong's urine samples from his first Tour win in 1999 had been retested and found to contain traces of the banned blood-booster EPO, but he was exonerated following an independent investigation.

The American, who will be riding for the Astana team next year, has said his comeback is meant to increase awareness of cancer. This year alone, nearly eight million people will die from the disease.

"When people have cancer it's black and white - they live and they win. They lose and they die. I take that same mentality into sport - to win," said Armstrong, who successfully fought testicular cancer in the 1990s. (dpa)