The Untold Truth: How Lance Armstrong SAVED The Tour de France!

[@amramweismann6162]

Thanks for your video i think it is about time people remember the good part of the Amstrong area. Not only did he get so many people into riding bikes but during his area he was responsible to many advancements in cycling that got us to where we are now. Things like aero skinsuits higher cadence etc he started the area of scientific riding

[@alannohlgren]

Good points. Lance's influence, in all senses, cannot be underestimated. As a young amateur & Olympic hopeful, he excelled. As a cycling pro, he also excelled. Being thrust, as it were, into the epoch of severe doping in the sport of cycling, he excelled once again. He competed in his domain, determined always to rise to the top. I don't believe Lance Armstrong is any more or any less guilty of doping than any of his colleagues. All of them, the bunch, took the plunge & bit the bullet for one reason only--to cruise thru & taste the glory of maillot jaune, rose, vert, etc. Modern cycling is intrinsically tied up with performance enhancing substances. Call them drugs, dope or enhancers, the world of chemically induced performance enhancers is upon us. Who is 100 % clean in the peleton? In their determination to take advantage of every chemical advantage, who is truly innocent? It's a messy world, if you look at it microscopically. Voila mon perspective...

[@drewbuffington]

Lance is the GOAT

[@savagepro9060]

you say that like a Texan sheep🐑

[@starkparker16]

When I started racing in 1989 only the richest yuppies had $2K bikes. $1200 was more than enough. My first good bike was less than $500.

[@laneromel5667]

I started racing in 1971, I purchased a Peugeot PX10 for $300. I do not believe you could buy a bike for $1200, nothing was that expensive at that time.

[@lesliepropheter5040]

I watch cycling because of Lance Armstrong. I don’t have any animosity towards him. Year after year, every cyclist in those pelaton’s were on an even playing field, together, at the same time. No one would have been able to keep up with Armstrong unless they were also doped. Doesn’t Armstrong have the natural physical ability to excel above the others? Yes

[@frederikdomino2158]

Armstrong isnt a monster because he doped. He is a monster because of the way he treats people. He tried to destroy peoples lives when they caught on to his cheating, and he wasnt subtle about it either. A true piece of shit.

[@holmbjerg]

Not a level playing field at all. Without Michele Ferrari, Lance would have been a nobody. UCI let US Postal get away with a lot of stuff that their competitors could never get away with. Like when they allowed a prescription for cortisone to be backdated in violation of the rules, when Lance tested positive for cortisone. Or when they made positive samples that he had produced, disappear before they could be retested. Hein Verbrüggen UCI president, received generous gifts from Lance. That's bribery.

[@sethchapman8001]

I am with you on this. I started following TDF because of Lance, and still admire him as an amazing athlete/cyclist. It wouldn't matter what I took, there is no way I could ever get close to that level. Everyone else racing those years of TDF was doing the same thing, so he was still better than all the others.

[@starmontfortune353]

I agree. But what I didn’t like was how he tried to ruin people’s lives that outed him. That took it to far in my opinion.

[@TylerPurcell1]

I also watch because of Lance, but disagree that it was level. In a sport of marginal gains, examples like 1994 La Flèche Wallonne where 3 teammates broke away together, or riders like Jalambert and Riis magically becoming elite in mountains are just examples of where some doped better/harder. Armstrong's racing style looks a little similar to modern cyclists like Valverde, Alaphillipe, even Remco. Safe to think he could have won a Grand Tour like the Vuelta, and maybe some hilly classics and some time trials in between, but probably not 7 straight tours.

[@talljason1984]

While he definitely helped with the spread of cycling in America and beyond, after watching his documentary on Netflix, I think he just needs to move into a different arena. His type A personality was extreme and kinda scary but helped him work harder. Very few people could reel him in, and there was very little self reflection/empathy from him in that time. He’d burn any bridge to win. What really makes the situation dark for me is his fight against cancer and subsequent advocacy for cancer treatment and knowledge was interwoven with his claims of being honest. He also was adamant he was clean even as the sport was setting no PEDs as the standard. He lied for years and even under oath with the warning of perjury. The one honest thing that resonated from the doc was that he needed the type of response (and lawsuits) he got for him to realize his role and how people saw him. Any attempts to maintain his “brand” or name in current discussion is like tolerating a bully/jerk because they exhibit some qualities we as humans see as important to survival. For me, modeling the traits of Armstrong at that extreme would make me question my integrity. The video essay is an interesting take, and has some points, but I definitely won’t be subscribing to any of his future projects or attempt to view him at the same level as other cyclists.

[@HsN-fi8yp]

I admired Lance when he appeared and his story was fantastic cancer recovery and yes he probably (as the video says) did save the cycling world by getting the business side of it going as we see today and I am grateful for that without Lance the cycling world might not have evolved to what is today, but why did he have to be such a nasty human being?

[@indonesiaamerica7050]

He's not that nasty. He was being harassed.

[@thomasdobson3823]

Richard Virenque ... what a hero!.... "You can say that climbers suffer the same as the other riders, but they suffer in a different way."

[@hildegardwichmann2844]

Richard Virenque

[@thomasdobson3823]

@@hildegardwichmann2844 merci…. Laurent Jalabert … Richard Virenque….. I wonder why I got them confused 🫤… Virenque was our office hero in the 90s….

[@JLKelly2]

NGL every sport has a similar athlete, it's up to the community and players and sponsors whether they decide to find out the best route for the sport to make amends or not and make sure future generations of athletes don't fall for the same pitfalls.

[@Xhadp]

I wasn't around during that era but one notorious fact is how his doping came out. It wasn't through the Oprah interview. It was through back-log testing of samples that caught him in which he was notified about and did the infamous Oprah interview to get ahead of the UCI announcement. Plus, the fact that doping was super well known through Landis' failed attempt. Other than that, yep I can attest to the heavy amount of marketing and advertising it brought, my dad had tons of those Livestrong bands.

[@indonesiaamerica7050]

You're mischaracterizing these "back log" tests. Why don't you cite your source? Other than corticoids, which we all knew about, what "positive" result did he get for banned substances?

[@Xhadp]

@@indonesiaamerica7050 It was through some discussion forums so you may be right that it is wrong. But I still think there is a nefarious reason for him coming out and that reason outlined is the perfect one. You have an interview with the most prolific character in the world. You just randomly have an interview out of the blue? You are seriously telling me that is what happened? Not a chance, he was clearly using that interview to get ahead of a concrete allegations. Thus allowing people to point to the interview instead of a nefarious reason. He could have easily taken it to the grave or not talked about it if that wasn't the case.

[@indonesiaamerica7050]

@@Xhadp And more specifically, what I remember about the timing is that LA and his lawyers reached a settlement agreement with the Federal government and that was used by others to sue him for "fraud" at his Livestrong gig. And I believe he got removed from the board of directors and so forth at around that time. That's the reason for the Oprah PR because the whole Livestrong thing was more about "the cancer miracle" than "The Tour Miracle" and I am guessing that Oprah and those clowns were in on hyping the Livestrong foundation from the very beginning of it.

[@AeroX-c4m]

Well said and complete. I’m happy you put this out. The true fan knows this and his story but we hope someday the public at large will see it too.

[@savagepro9060]

If anything, Lance helped to enhance the USE of drugs in the sport. He also helped enhance the creation, sophistication, administration, and surrounding corruption of drugs in cycling!

[@TellusJD]

yup this year it came back. The numbers dont add up, this years peleton and especially UAE is so much stronger than they were last year, individual to individual are all 5-10% stronger than they ever were in just 1 year, while all other years we did not see such vast improvements.

[@thart6103]

I agree

[@telmolicious]

The drugs were there before his time , during his time and after his time. Its always been there in some form and always Will. Has nothing to do with Lance.

[@savagepro9060]

@@telmolicious the proven MAFIA behaviour Lance exercised in destroying lives and careers around him was never BEFORE him, DURING his career and will NEVER be SEEN again!

[@savagepro9060]

@@telmolicious "The drugs were there before his time , during his time and after his time." He PROVED what drugs can do. He PROVED how to manipulate the authorities with bribes. He PROVED that with enough power you can TRAUMATIZED lives and careers. No one has ever done that BEFORE Lance, DURING Lance's time, or to THIS day!

[@333wheeler]

His training was pretty full on as well . Some of the TdF Winter recon rides were legendary. If everyone had ridden clean I think he would of won just the same. I guess back then there was a lot of inside guessing what the other teams were up to and they made judgement calls based on that for better or worse.

[@stephenboneau9090]

Well done!

[@paulwhite3092]

Lance could cure cancer worldwide, and still some people would choose to focus on his doping in cycling. We are talking about a man that is willing to do whatever it takes to win. Thats the same mentality needed to solve some of the world's problems.

[@zaralundcy8884]

Thank you for this great video showing a different a different chapter to the Lance story. It is so true but so sad at the same time I think I could forgive Lance being a cheat if he had been a nice man to his staff and other people then but his building and harassing attitude is to me worse than his doping! As one said everyone is on something in all sports otherwise sports would still be on cave men stage! My opinion!!!!!😊

[@oxber3154]

He is still one of greatest. What ever. Even doped can’t win Tour 7 times in a row just becouse of dopping. They ALL doped in that time in peloton. They can’t cancel his wins in our heads.

[@dcrunicycles]

@@oxber3154 concise argument, thank you.

[@maddb3457]

100% agree. There is a fine line between "supplements" and "doping". Both require lots of science, trial and error, and labwork. It's all the same. If they took away gels and infused liquids (anything other than water) it would be a much different sport. The results of the Tour yesterday such a freak jump from last year to this year too. We are in for another roller coaster.

[@christopheribeiro4325]

Lance is the mj of cycling. He has had redefined cycling. He's the greatest until now. Never watched eddy mercks.

[@evanshaw17]

What crap. As a research methodologist doping does not equal the field. He had a very poor hematocrit so he could dope more than others. Before he doped he was consistently 16 minutes slower on maintain stages!!!! He stole 100 million dollars from others who deserved the money. He was the biggest criminal. He ruined the business of lemons and others. Disgusting

[@Livitt351]

My love of cycling started with Lance Armstrong, he will always be the greatest for me!

[@francishill6365]

Many thanks, for shedding a better light and the truth of what Lance did for cycling. PEDs or not he is still our champion.

[@Hanafjedle2023]

He's nothing more than a bullying cheater. What a dickhead he was and still is. A disgrace to all sports.

[@eggcommander5559]

Saw that clip of Tadej and was like wait… that just happened .. when did this get posted😂 2 hours ago

[@daveyyc9784]

I think the cleanest tdf year in modern cycling was the year Cadel Evans won. Thoughts?

[@CliftonDon74]

Lance Armstrong! ❤

[@niklasbirksted8175]

Richard Virenque, not Laurent Jalabert. I believe Jalabert was still on ONCE at this time

[@747driver3]

He was the greatest CHEAT ever. And we have not even got to biggest bully, or biggest A-hole yet.

[@franz009franz]

and so was the entire peleton. ur point?

[@747driver3]

@@franz009franz The entire peloton were a-holes and bullies? Ok. My other point is that Lance Armstrong is not a hero in any version of his story. Despicable ones to mind.

[@tjtennisicmroll2k]

a lot of people still like lance, like a lot of the people who raced with him and worked with him. Have you seen his step dad? sure he has problems, but so does everyone. Maybe have a little compassion for your fellow man.

[@747driver3]

@@tjtennisicmroll2k I do not think that is true. He is a legendary bully and a-hole. I liked him until he tricked me with his crazy lies. And then the attack on Lemond. And then all his teammmates.

[@indonesiaamerica7050]

@@747driver3 You only know stories.

[@dcrunicycles]

Thank you As a newbie to elite pro cycling events. I am addicted Listening to cycling Dane, lanturne rouge, Chris butterfly , and beyond the podium. I forgive lance. He taught the youth to lie and cheat for success.

[@Livitt351]

The greatest cheaters are obviously not known 😅😅😅

[@telemarktumalo6978]

Who?

[@franz009franz]

make the best the scapegoat to save your weak ass. everyone involved knew what was going on. put the fingers on him to give other dopers wins. he was the greatest of his era. he made cycling bigger than it has ever been before. thank you, lance! (although i hated you for beating ulrich everytime) :D

[@michaelkelly1713]

And the rehabilitation tour of the doper continues.

[@lbride3738]

No Lance no T France

[@Klunker1]

Coppi, Anquetil, Merckx, Hinualt, Indurain, ever heard of those guys.

[@jeanmarcleplattenier2762]

Lance had a negative effect on cycling overall

[@MH_Bikes]

😂 Lance the doper did what? 😂

[@creolespanish34]

The notion that Lance saved anything related to cycling in general is ludicrous. I'm ok with what he did, I wish him well in life, he's actually doing a great podcast with lots of insight, but he didn't save anything but his money-making ability. Get over it, he was just a good cheater

[@evanshaw17]

Cycling Dane I’m severely disappointed in you. You seem to be such a decent and knowledgeable man. Not here sadly

[@zaralundcy8884]

Watch the video again you clearly didn’t get the points?!

[@trademark4537]

L Take, Armstrong ruined the popularity of cycling in America. Yes it was good while he was winning, but when the truth came out it ruined the image of the sport here forever. Not to mention him trying to blackmail and threaten many whistleblowers. It's disgusting to see people try and go on a redemption tour for him, with his podcast getting a lot of views.

[@zaralundcy8884]

Well Money talks!!!!

[@candacereynolds1723]

UMMM...???... (B)ull(S)chiff