Lance Armstrong has suggested he believes that one day he will be reinstated as a seven-time winner of the Tour de France, claiming that “history always tells the truth” and “eventually the truth will be told”.
The comments came on Steve-O’s Wild Ride! podcast, Armstrong talking to the Jackass stunt performer and comedian about his cycling career. The Texan was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles in 2012 following USADA’s anti-doping investigation into the US Postal team, the disgraced former pro having won the race every year between 1999 and 2005.
Everyone knows the story by now, but lawsuits followed, although Armstrong told Steve-O his investment in Uber at an early stage had been “magic” and maintained his family’s quality of life. On the sporting front, the seven Armstrong years remain blank, although there are no prizes for guessing who he believes should be considered the winner.
He claimed: “History always tells the truth and all you have to do is wait […] I think history catches up with everybody and so that, in the short term for me, was difficult right, history edited my story.
“The version that was edited to at the time was ‘he didn’t win any Tours’, think about that, where you were stripped of all seven so if you went in the record books it says zero, it also says those seven years there is no winner, so here you have an event like the Tour that is beautiful and iconic and historical and all these things, it has to have a winner.
“History doesn’t stop and history doesn’t stop editing so that story will continue to be edited and eventually the truth will be told and and it’s just a different version of the truth. What really matters is I don’t really give a shit what the history books say now, I don’t give a shit what was written or is written, I just don’t.
“What I care about are the people that I was in the trenches with and I’m obviously talking about my teammates but I’m also talking about the people that we referenced, the guys that got beat, the guys that I wanted to beat […] If we asked them what happened they will tell you what happened and they’ll tell you who won the races.
“History will correct that story. Now I might be long gone and dead, that’s fine, history never stops and it never stops searching for the truth and editing […] and by the way, that’s maybe something that I just like to tell myself, I could be totally wrong, I don’t think I am.”
Armstrong also claimed that there would be no complaints from his rivals and contemporaries if this were the case.
He continued: “Over time, history just corrects things and that’s okay. Look, you didn’t park at my office, but if you did and walked inside, there’s seven yellow jerseys hanging on the wall. Nobody has ever come to claim them. I towed the line with 200 guys every year for seven years.
“[If] one of those dudes rolled up on that office and said, ‘give me that jersey’ … if they want to show up and take one and make a case for it, they can have it. No problem. But nobody’s coming.”
We look forward to reading the comments section under this article, although plenty of Steve-O’s podcast audience went against Armstrong.
“Lance was such a let down for me,” one commented. “I really believed him and he had been lying all along.”
“I’m pretty sure this episode will age like fine milk,” another added.
Last week, Armstrong spoke about his cycling life post-racing and said “distracted driving” has made cycling more dangerous and he “avoids long, straight roads like the plague” due to phone-using motorists. Armstrong also suggested that if he becomes “freaked out” by dangerous or erratic driving, he will simply ride on the footpath and recommends riding a gravel bike to escape road riding too.
In December, Sir Bradley Wiggins said Armstrong is a “good man” whose doping misdeeds are “disproportionate to what some people get away with”, that after the Texan offered to pay for the British former pro to attend therapy.
45 thoughts on “Lance Armstrong claims Tour de France titles will be reinstated as “history always tells the truth””
Quote:
The people I bullied, the people I blackmailed, the people I drove out of the sport, the people whose careers I ruined, the people who told the truth who I called liars and turned everyone else against…
In other news: Lance
In other news: Lance Armstrong is f-ing delusional
Quote:
Buy those shares with the money that you cheated your way to, did you?
You dope and you lose the
You dope and you lose the jerseys. Its as simple as that. There are plenty of valid points to be made about cycling at the time and the prevalence of the cheating but fundamentally he was caught cheating and should have his titles stripped. As far as I know, the main reason his is so disliked is not just his cheating, its the way he did it and how he treated others.
It might not be popular, but
It might not be popular, but in some respects he’s right; how can you have a sporting event, with no winners for 7 consecutive years? In virtually any other major sport, the 2nd place person gets the win.
Are the ASO, basically saying it didn’t happen, so all stages, wins, etc should be removed from the record books? Either have a ‘new’ winner, or scrap the records of the whole 7 Tours………
Those at the back of the
Those at the back of the peleton should get a special award, they were trying to finish withing drug fueled time limits.
Yup, the Tour should long ago
Yup, the Tour should long ago have gone down the finisher lists year by year until it found riders who hadn’t doped and then awarded them the yellow jerseys.
Sans that, the Tour appears as complicit in doping as Armstrong is guilty of it.
> Are the ASO, basically
> Are the ASO, basically saying it didn’t happen
The authority is the UCI. ASO was only the race organiser.
He should just go away, his
He should just go away, his views are delusional, distorted and corrupt. He hasn’t apologised properly just tried to make more money out of cycling and cyclists. What does he know about truth? He has bought favour from Wiggins and the more said about him, TUE’s and jiffy bags the better.
Can we please stop paying
Can we please stop paying attention to him?
This.
This.
Who cares what he thinks, or claims, or wants?
Also, isn’t it funny how always, always when someone says ‘I don’t care what people think of me’ they go on and on about it, showing that they are actually obsessed about it.
Always? So the guy is asked
Always? So the guy is asked to appear on a podcast to discuss performance enhancing drugs and answers questions posed to him, which go beyond what is highlighted in this article and by you. That means he is “actually obsessed” with the issue? It’s one thing to not like the guy, and another to base your opinions on facts.
I was, of course, talking in
I was, of course, talking in a general sense, but if you want to focus back on Armstrong, fine with me.
You somehow assume I base my opinion on just this article, about this particular podcast. But you probably know what they say about assumptions.
He has done lots of posts, interviews, podcast appearences etc. over the last few years where he has talked about how other people think about him, and to me it is very clear that he very much cares about that.
You don’t have to agree, of course.
Sredlums wrote:
They make an ass out of… um… ptions?
Of couurse your comment was
Of couurse your comment was “in general”, but for it to make any sense it had to be about Armstrong as well all along. And it really does not matter how in depth your investigation to this issue has gone, your “always, always” claim about anybody and everybody being obsessed would still be lacking. You are simply making oversimplifications and -generalisations.
How about leading by example?
How about leading by example? Better yet, how about stopping promoting cancel culture.
Destroyer666 wrote:
Cancel culture is, as I understand it, denying a person a platform, employment et cetera solely on the grounds of their political views or cultural opinions when they have not committed any crime or malfeasance. It is not saying that one wishes that a spoiled narcissistic manbaby would shut up whining about the fact that he wants the prizes that he won through cheating returned to him.
“Can we please stop paying
“Can we please stop paying attention to him?”= cancel culture. It does not matter on what side of the fence you are regarding a matter. So please, don’t try to make it into something it is not.
Destroyer666 wrote:
Oh dear, you still don’t understand, do you? Nobody has restricted his right to free speech, nobody has banned him from any platform, people are simply saying they’re bored of listening to his whining that he should be rewarded for his cheating.
Oh dear, to your own lack of
Oh dear, to your own lack of understanding. I was not referring to your vague generalisation of “people”, I was referring to a particular individual´s comment. And that is clearly an example of and a promotion of cancel culture. You are trying to twist words to suit your own point-of-view.
‘Cancel culture’ is just a
‘Cancel culture’ is just a term made up by people who don’t like it when actions (or words) have consequences.
Yup – it’s very complex but
Yup – it’s very complex but having had a shallow dive into all this I think a crass oversimplification of “they don’t like it up ’em” is called for!
Did you just cancel your
Did you just cancel your brain? just… c’mon… no.
The truth according to
The truth according to Armstrong, like most sociopaths, is quite different from any form of reality.
And in other news Putin says
And in other news Putin says that one day history will show that it was Ukraine that invaded Russia.
Lance who?
Lance who?
Terry Hutt wrote:
I think he used to date Sheryl Crow.
ErnieC wrote:
Sheryl who?
Yay, let´s ignore, cancel and
Yay, let´s ignore, cancel and pretend, so we can have more time for our own make-belief “reality”!
This is a reminder that,
This is a reminder that, while a stopped clock is correct twice daily, it is wrong for the other 1438 minutes a day.
Just give them back. Most
Just give them back. Most everybody was doing it. So much so that they can’t even award new first places to replace his accomplishments. Sure he was a jerk, but you don’t withhold recognition because of that. If you are a hater, then get over it.
psyrog wrote:
and if you are a disciple and sycophant get over it.
psyrog wrote:
I think most people are over it, then he rears his ugly little head to remind everyone of what an obnoxious twat he really is. It appears that Lance baby is the one struggling to get over it (which is nice). Perhaps you should drop him a line?
psyrog wrote:
He won because he cheated, by his own confession. If you allow people to keep their titles and their winnings when they cheat, you may as well not bother having sport at all. If “most everybody was doing it” that’s a very good reason not to award anyone titles in those years.
Mostly agree. Although …
Mostly agree. Although … high level sport is complicated. It’s not wrestling exactly, but there sometimes seems to be more than a little marketing / politics (other countries available) / entertainment industry – or just plain “business” (TdF, recumbents and the UCI).
As for Lance there’s nothing to stop him winning some back at the Enhanced Games.
chrisonabike wrote:
I, and several others, proposed just such a thing years ago.
Let the cheating sods burn themselves out, like an oxy-fed candle.
Then we can just ignore them.
Just give them back. Most
Just give them back. Most everybody was doing it. So much so that they can’t even award new first places to replace his accomplishments. Sure he was a jerk, but you don’t withhold recognition because of that. If you are a hater, then get over it.
Assuming he told the truth on
Assuming he told the truth on Oprah, does that make him a liar?
Armstrong has never told the
Armstrong has never told the FULL truth.
Jeebus, another one sipping
Jeebus, another one sipping from the Trump Koil-Aid fountain!
The drugs DO work!
I think Lance is right and
I think Lance is right and the only reason he was stripped of the wins is due to political reasons and because he was such an a**hole. Let’s face it if he was the only one doping the organizers would have just awarded the second place finishers the win. But they didn’t which one has to ask why? If you look at the history of the Tour the organizers did disqualify past winners and awarded the second place finishers and in one case even the fourth place finisher the win. So again why not in this case? Now it is only my opinion but I would have to say the reason is because they really have no idea who was and who was not truly doping back then. Also it is fact that some competitors back in the day would use cocaine to stay awake. So should we now go back and disqualify them also? I get it Lance was a doper and an a**hole. However, he still won during a time when multiple people were also doing the same thing and did not get caught until years later. So if you are going to be fair and keep him off the winners list I think you have to go back and change the list for others years also. Which we all know is not going to happen. And before anyone assumes I am not a Lance fan I think he is a total dbag and think his views are total crap. But what is right is right.
Hc28 wrote:
Presuming you are referring to the early days of the Tour, performance enhancing drugs were not banned in cycling until 1965, indeed drugtaking was so prevalent and accepted that in the 1930s Henri Desgrange felt it necessary to mention in the rulebook handed out to riders at the Tour that they should note that the organisers would not be providing riders with drugs, they would have to get their own. So the “all the old-timers were at it, why aren’t their results removed” argument has no validity as they were not actually cheating.
The main reason Armstrong had
Jerk, asshole….it was always more than that.
The main reason Armstrong had his titles taken away is because he was a bastard bully. He called Emma O’Reilly a prostitute, he tried to destroy Greg Lemond, he tried to destroy quite a few people who had the temerity to challenge him. Bassons, Simeoni, pros of his era who knew what he was up to and were fed up riding clean and getting nowhere, were personally chased down by Armstrong when they went up the road, destroying their careers. Frankie and Betsy Andreu threatened and derided. The list went on, of people who he personally tried to destroy.
Latterly Armstrong has rehabilitated his image, with things he’s done for troubled souls Ullrich and Wiggins. He still displays his old arrogance sometimes but these days he has some humility.
But it’s pretty simple why the UCI spat him out. Admittedly also because of embarrassment over Hein Verbruggen.
The one thing that has always
The one thing that has always intrigued me:
That day in the consulting room, with just his then best mate Frankie Andreu, his missus Betsy and the Oncologist in attendance….before treatment could start the Oncologist asks Armstrong if he’d ever taken PEDs. Armstrong instantly reeled off the list, EPO, cortisone, growth hormone, anabolic steroids etc, all cards on the table.
Armstrong has always denied this. Why? To protect the doctor from being put in an impossible situation re: patient confidentiality/hippocratic oath?
I’m not so sure, if anyone approached the doc to ask, he could quite legitimately say “no comment”. This is a HUGE bone of contention for Armstrong, clearly he’s lying over this, the Andreus have no reason to lie, and they both personally witnessed it.
Anyone else got any ideas?
The lying sack of shit
The lying sack of shit suckered me. I wanted to believe him, and I did.
The utter bastard. Fuck him.