New Zealander Cameron Brown trolled after Lance Armstrong ride

Ironman Cameron Brown has shut down his public support of disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong after being trolled on social media

The 45-year-old American, stripped of seven Tour de France cycling titles after confessing to benefiting from a sophisticated covert doping programme, arrived in New Zealand on Sunday to film a “cautionary tale” for brewery giant Lion.

“We are using Lance to tell a cautionary tale called ‘The Consequence’ which depicts how much you stand to lose when you pursue success at all costs. We want to highlight that actions have consequences and we couldn’t think of anyone better to demonstrate that, ” a spokeswoman said.

He and Brown met for a ride around the Auckland waterfront that same day and the 12-time winner of the New Zealand ironman title-winner tweeted pictures of the pair and supported Armstrong.

Armstrong hosted a group ride in Auckland after Tweeting details to fans.

Brown acknowledged Armstrong had severely damaged cycling's credibility and hurt a lot of people but felt he still deserved support.

"I watched him for 10 years competing in the Tour de France and it was quite incredible to ride with him," Brown told Newstalk ZB's Tony Veitch.

"I'd never met him before so it was pretty special."

"My little boy's getting into cycling and triathlon now so I took him along and Lance was great.

"It was pretty cool."

But since making those statements, Brown has been attacked on various social media channels.

He withdrew from a planned interview with Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking this morning.

Mike Hosking commented "Nothing wrong with Cameron Brown riding with Armstrong"

Hosking blasted the trolls that had lashed Brown on social media.

"He doesn't want to talk to us now because he has been trolled on social media," Hosking told his listeners. "Why we need to go around attacking people for things they do like this is beyond me."

Brown told Veitch he recognised the damage Armstrong had caused.

"I don't condone what Armstrong did," Brown told Veitch "I think it was a part of the era of what they did in cycling and you'd hope that they've cleaned it up by now but I'm still sure there's drugs out there in that sport. Everyone did it in that sport but he probably regrets how he went about it and what he did to some people and he's maybe going around the world to try and apologise to a lot of them."

"I think he's probably just trying to forget about the past and move on. And hopefully people can forgive him but probably there's a lot of people that can't."

Cameron Brown talks to Tony Veitch after riding with Lance Armstrong