WEBVTT - Lance!!! A Curious Tale of Blood Doping for Fun and Profit 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:02.720 Ridiculous crime. It's a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:03.480 --> 0:00:05.960 And there she is here, I am look at me. 0:00:06.880 --> 0:00:08.480 It's me Zeron Burnette. 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:10.319 How you doing good? You're doing good? 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:10.840 Yeah you. 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:14.920 Let's skip past that and we'll get into my question, 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:17.919 which is, do you know what's ridiculous? 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:20.440 I do. I do know it's ridiculous. It's a mashup, 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:26.439 but a good one. Hannah on Instagram, founder of Folkways Press, 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:30.160 just sent this to me. Uh, it's a mashup of 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:36.040 this glass like eyeglasses company camp that they do. They're 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:39.480 like teamed up with the US for service for Smokey Bear. 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:41.440 Oh and I like him. 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:43.040 I was like, well this is cool. And then I 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:44.479 looked at all of them. I'm like, these kind of 0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:48.440 like the glasses already were so now I think I 0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:53.720 need some, Okay, And uh, it's a good mashup. What Yeah, 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:57.640 So it's s hwood shop dot com and you go 0:00:57.640 --> 0:01:00.520 and they have the Smokey Bear what have you. But yeah, 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:04.319 they're pretty dope looking glasses. Here. We look like they're 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:06.160 made out of wood, but I think they're not. 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:09.520 But New Year, New Elizabeth, like, what is this? Is 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:11.199 it a mashup? I don't even hate. 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:14.280 And you know what, I'm gonna stop right there. That's it. 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:15.760 It's not going to drag on forever. 0:01:16.120 --> 0:01:18.319 No quotes from a PR person in the company. 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:19.560 Now, I'm just gonna be like, oh, you know what, 0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:22.240 they make smokey bird glasses, and I love the Forest 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:26.399 Service and the proceeds go to help fight wildfires. Wow, 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:27.800 it just gets better and better. 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:29.800 Twenty six. You're already looking up. 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:31.120 I know you're welcome. 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:33.400 Well, I got something ridiculous for you, girl. Yes, sir, 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:35.760 imagine you're a world famous athlete and you're one of 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:37.120 the fastest to ever do it. 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:38.959 Right up, I don't have to imagine. 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:41.640 I know you don't, but right up until your crimes 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:44.720 eventually catch up to you. Oh, because, as you know, Elizabeth, 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:46.600 the past is never truly gone. 0:01:46.760 --> 0:02:00.720 That is true. 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:13.880 This is Ridiculous Crime, a podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, heists, 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:19.280 and cons. It's always ninety nine percent murder free and 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:25.760 one hundred percent ridiculous. Ridiculous, Elizabeth, this is a story 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:28.240 I've waited to tell you. Really, it's a favorite of mine. 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:31.440 It's part one of a multi part story about doping 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:33.959 in sports. The other parts I'll tell you at a 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:36.520 later date, but for now, Part one is about the 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:43.079 world's most famous cyclist, Lance Armstrong. Lance Lance. I've told 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:45.200 you about my personal connection to Lance Armstrong. It's not 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:46.959 really much of a connection. It's more like a long 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:49.440 running bit. But my friend Derek and I had we 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:51.160 had this little game we'd like to play when we 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:52.880 weren't on our own bikes and we were just rolling 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:56.720 around in cages, I mean cars, and anytime that we 0:02:56.760 --> 0:03:01.040 saw a cyclist in there, Likera gear, we'd both yell Lance. 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:05.040 Why that made us laugh so hard? I can't tell you, 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:08.720 but it did. My point is Lance Armstrong has been 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:11.880 a joke to us for a long time. Yeah, mostly 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:14.680 because every July we'd watched the Tour de France together 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:18.360 and for years Lance dominated that multi stage race around 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:22.280 for it. And Lance was so full of himself, Oh 0:03:22.360 --> 0:03:24.720 my god, which is saying a lot since he's a cyclist. 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:26.639 He's living strong there, my kid, I. 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:29.680 Kid cyclists, I'm one of you. But seriously, Lance Armstrong 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:33.360 had a high opinion of Lance Armstrong, as this story 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:36.440 will make evidence. So what's the story. Well, I'm glad 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:36.920 you asked him. 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:37.760 Yes, thank you. 0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:39.760 I think you already know the general shape and the 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:42.080 contours of this one. I think you probably remember. 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:42.760 It, Lance Strong. 0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:45.720 Yeah, he's caught doping. He loses everything. Right, that's not 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:47.960 the full story, because, as you know, the devil is 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:51.400 in the details always, So first step, who is Lance Armstrong? 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:53.760 Good question, fantastic question. You asked that. 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:57.600 Lance Gunderson was born in nineteen seventy one in the 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:00.400 town of Richardson, Texas. It's a suburb of Dallas. He 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:03.840 was born Lance Gunderson Gunderson. Yeah, so you know the 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:07.280 calculator company, Texas Instruments. Yes, Well, in nineteen fifty six 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:09.600 they set up shop at the border of Richardson, and 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:13.160 after that the town grew in size and prestige. Suddenly 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:16.240 the real estate's valuable. You could say, Richardson is the 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:19.640 town that calculators built. Anyway, soon enough. 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:22.479 After he was born, Richardson is the town that calculators built. 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:23.479 You told me I could say it, I. 0:04:23.440 --> 0:04:24.920 Could say it. You did do it. 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:25.640 It was horrible. 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:29.600 Anyway, soon after he's born to Richardson, his parents get divorced. 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:33.320 Little Lance was just two years old. His mother soon remarried, 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:35.840 and little Lance took the name of his new stepfather, 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:39.680 and that's how he became Lance Armstrong. Fast forward to 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:41.120 his teenage years. We don't need to go over his 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:43.760 whole childhood. By the age of sixteen, Lance Armstrong he 0:04:43.800 --> 0:04:47.400 shows this aptitude for athletics. His first success is as 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:50.800 a triathlete, you know, running, swimming, and biking right. 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:51.840 Within a tumbling. 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:56.520 Within a few years he's a national champion triathlete. It 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:59.760 feels like triathletes were much more of an eighties nineties thing, 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:01.919 back when you'd hear about who won the annual iron 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:04.479 Man competition. Yeah, you don't hear about that anymore. 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:09.120 No, No, I got a bunch of friends that do triathlons too. 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:13.000 Much like the national conversation. Yeah you don't hear about 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:15.560 the who won the iron Man basically, yeah, I think 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:18.240 in the nineties other extreme sports began to surpass that 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:23.039 OJA ruling competition. Anyway, That's where Lance Armstrong first makes 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:26.040 a name for himself swimming, cycling, the running. Then in 0:05:26.120 --> 0:05:29.080 nineteen ninety two he switches it up. He focuses solely 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:31.760 on cycling and he turns pro as a cyclist. That 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:33.839 same year he did not want to do the runs 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:36.159 no more. The swim for him. So he joins the 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:38.719 Motorola cycling team, which was like one of the best 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:40.359 in the world at the time, and from the jump, 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:43.039 he's damn good. In nineteen ninety three, he competes in 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:46.520 the Tour de France. He wins the stage, which is shocking, right, 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:49.240 first time out, totally. Now, later that same year, he 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:52.000 wins the World Road Race Championship. 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:53.560 I thought you're gonna say road rage. 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:56.359 No, this is so excited. For a second. This starts 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:58.800 a string of wins for Lance that culminates in him 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:01.760 winning the Triple Crown in cycling. He won the Thrift 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:05.679 Drug Classic in Pittsburgh. Oh, he won the Kmart West 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:09.240 Virginia Classic, honey, And finally he won the Core States 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:11.480 US Pro National Championships in Philly. 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:13.039 Now that sounds like a legitimate race. 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:15.920 So it's not exactly like, oh, Belmont, the Preakness and 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:19.640 Kentucky Derby, but you get the idea that would have 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:22.960 been amazing to beat the horses. So this is also 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:26.520 Elizabeth when the first allegations of his cheating pops into 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:27.000 this story. 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:29.280 Okay that early, yes, because. 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:31.280 Apparently one of the cyclists he was competing against in 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:35.040 the national championship. Alleges that Lance bribed him to let 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:38.680 Lance win so he could take the triple crown. That 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:41.240 was just a bribe. But soon enough, by nineteen ninety five, 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:45.440 Lance moved on to performance enhancing drugs. Anyway, the next year, 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:48.640 Lance's his ascendant career, right, it continues its rise. He 0:06:48.680 --> 0:06:51.240 competes at the nineteen ninety six Summer Olympics in my 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:54.200 hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. However, he didn't medal in the 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:56.960 Olympics and said he finished twelfth in the road race. 0:06:57.440 --> 0:06:59.400 You know what that means, He's gonna need to dope 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:00.240 even harder. 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:01.880 Yeah, but all. 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:04.799 Unfortunately, later on in that same year, tragedy struck Elizabeth. 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:06.840 His cycling career had to be put on hold when 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:09.640 Lance Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer. 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:10.480 Yeah, I remember that. 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:13.160 It was bad, like his doctors didn't think he would live. 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:14.000 Oh really. 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:16.480 However, if there's one thing we can say about Lance Armstrong, 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:19.720 he is committed to winning, and so he dedicates himself 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:23.000 to beating cancer. It works. He defies the expectations of 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:26.640 his doctors. He beats testicular cancer for him, right, and 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:28.960 then after his cancer is in remission. He founds the 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:32.720 Lance Armstrong Foundation in order to help other cancer survivors. 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:35.480 That's a good thing, totally. It would later change its 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:37.720 name to the Livestrong Foundation. 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:39.920 With the yellow Yeah bracelets. 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:42.960 Right, yeah, you remember those. More on those later now. 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:46.480 The next year, nineteen ninety seven, Lance Armstrong meets Kristin Richard. 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:49.080 The two headed off. They get married. The following year, 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:51.280 the couple gets right to work on having a family. 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:53.920 They welcome a son in October of ninety nine, a 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:56.640 pair of twin daughters in two thousand and one. Now 0:07:56.680 --> 0:08:00.000 you may be wondering, how does the testicular cancer survivor 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:01.160 pull off this miracle? 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:03.600 I wasn't wondering that his business. 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:06.680 Well, he had his testicles removed, not both of them, 0:08:07.000 --> 0:08:09.800 the one. Yeah, But it was like he wasn't like 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:14.360 it was the odds were against him. People were surprised. 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:17.280 And it turns out Lance had foresight. He'd made some 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:20.440 deposits at the sperm bank. Yeah, he created using his 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:23.920 junk from before his he had surgery. Anyway, back to cycling. 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:26.840 In ninety eight, Lance gets back on the saddle and 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:30.520 launches this improbable comeback. Nobody thinks it's possible, but again 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:33.199 he's like, I'm committed to winning. His first attempts though 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:35.760 or met with failure. But that just shows Lance will 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:38.000 need to work even harder if he wants to return 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:41.360 to professional cycling. So in nineteen ninety eight, that same year, 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:44.160 when many in cycling believe Lance will never get back 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:46.720 to his championship status and they expect him to soon 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:50.120 retire from the sport. Instead, he joins the US Postal 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:54.120 Service team and he competes at the highest levels of cycling. 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:55.480 And again delivering the mail. 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:59.600 He excels. He doesn't win, but he unexpectedly finishes fourth 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:01.680 at the World Championships of Cycling that year. 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:02.480 Wow. 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:05.240 The next year, ninety nine, Lance roars back onto the 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:08.200 professional cycling scene when he competes in the Tour de France, 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:13.280 which is the coolest, biggest, exactly, it's the best race 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:16.080 in the world. He stuns everybody. He wins the whole 0:09:16.160 --> 0:09:16.640 damn thing. 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:17.559 Wow. 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:21.480 No one saw that coming, no one but Lance Armstrong. However, 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:24.480 there was an asterisk on his victory because he competed 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:26.400 in a field of cyclists that was missing two of 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:29.280 the best racers in the sport. So folks were like, well, sure, 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:31.760 it's impressive that Lance beat cancer and he came back 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:33.960 to win the Tour de France. But he didn't beat 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:35.080 the best in the world. 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:36.680 That's kind of rough, right, So. 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:38.600 The next year in two thousand, the best were back 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:41.640 in the saddle with him, all ready to challenge Lance 0:09:41.640 --> 0:09:43.320 in the Tour de France, and wouldn't you know it, 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:45.280 Lance still wins the damn thing. 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:45.880 Nice. 0:09:46.120 --> 0:09:49.000 In fact, he increases his pace and wins by six 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:52.120 minutes over this other cyclist yng six minute. Yeah, he 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:54.320 beats jan Ulrich, who many believe was the best in 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:56.040 the world at the time. Yeah, and had been absent 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:56.679 the year prior. 0:09:57.000 --> 0:09:58.440 Huge, it's a huge amount of time. 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:01.240 Oh totally. He's normally winning like a minute and a half, 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:03.000 two minutes, now six minutes. 0:10:03.000 --> 0:10:05.559 Have you ever seen the pictures from the like original 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:07.840 Tour de France where they're like smoking siuts. 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:09.760 Total and they stop and have wine breaks, wine and 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:10.440 cheese breaks. 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:11.120 Still do that? 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:13.920 They really should now that same summer, Lance he competes 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:17.120 in the Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, where he finishes third, 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:20.120 which means he medals and takes the bronze. Following year 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:22.160 two thousand and one, Lance returns to the Tour de 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:25.800 France and wouldn't you know it, Elizabeth, he wins again. 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:28.400 Now he's won three times in a row. The world 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:30.839 of cycling is a gog. Who is this guy? There was? 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:33.040 Why didn't he win at the Olympics? 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:36.160 That's weird, tough competition. So then the next year, two 0:10:36.160 --> 0:10:38.720 thousand and two, he does it again. Lance wins the 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:41.440 Tour de France for a fourth time in a row. 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:45.199 It's truly an exceptional victory. Yes, suddenly Lance Armstrong is 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:48.320 considered the best cyclist in the world. However, I should 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:50.719 point out something, he didn't do it alone. I don't 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:52.640 know if you know how the Tour de France works entirely, 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:54.880 but you race as part of a team, which means 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:57.480 team members take turns as a lead racer for the team. 0:10:57.679 --> 0:10:59.800 This allows the other team members to ride in their 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:03.320 lipstream back in the rest of the peloton, which means 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:06.400 in they ride against reduced wind and they experience less drag, 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:09.559 which keeps their legs like fresh for that final push 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:12.080 at the end of the day stage. So although Lance 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:14.760 wins the Tour de France, it's really a team victory. Sure, 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:17.720 sure Anyway. The next year, two thousand and three, Lance 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:20.720 wins the Tour de France again, stretching a streak of 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:23.800 victories to five in a row. It's incredible. By this point, 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:26.200 people who aren't even cycling fans, they know his name. 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:28.520 Many are tuning in to watch the Tour de France 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:31.480 just to see if Lance can do it again. Notably, 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:33.800 in that year's Tour de France, in a late stage, 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:36.559 Lance was leading when one of the race spectators who 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:40.280 crowded the roadside, they collided with Lance and their handbag 0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:42.960 wraps around his handlebars and he nearly crashes, which is 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:45.520 bad on a bike, especially when you have like you know, 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:50.360 no hair nearly your legs. You go down. Well help 0:11:50.440 --> 0:11:55.720 with the crash, but it's like his main competitor, Jan Ulrich, 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:58.319 the former best cyclist in the world. He decides not 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:00.720 to take advantage of this mishap and he waits for 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:03.440 Lance to get back on the race. This show of 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:07.320 sportsmanship is heralded by the cycling world, especially when Lance 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:10.000 goes on to win the tour yet again. Little did 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:12.480 folks know that Lance was not so committed to fair 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:17.240 play himself. Now at this point, Lance did suffer a 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:20.600 major loss. That same year, his marriage falls apart. Turns 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:22.560 out Lance was also cheating on his wife. 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:23.440 You're kidding. 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:26.320 Yes, tabloid stories come out that that celebrate the fact 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:29.320 that the newly singled Lance is now dating the singer 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:31.439 songwriter Cheryl Crow. 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:35.440 It's like vague memories. Remember that moment three years old? 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:39.480 Remember so the pair, they become the celebrity couple. They 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:42.520 eventually announced their engagement to get married. In fact, Cheryl 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:45.560 Crow puts her own career on hold to support her 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:48.640 new boat. She even moves to her Hona, Spain, which 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:51.040 is this major hub of cycling and a training ground. 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:54.120 But then cheating pops back up and the couple never 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:55.000 reaches the altar. 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:56.800 Wait break up. 0:12:56.760 --> 0:12:59.600 The next year. No, in this case, well, I don't 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:01.760 know if he on her, but I do know from 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:05.040 her that the cheating wasn't necessarily inside the relationships. Why 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:08.079 they broke up, it was that well, I'll just put 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:10.800 it this way, Cheryl Crow said he lied to me too, 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:14.000 And this was in reference to him as a professional cyclist. 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:15.400 Oh, you're kidding. 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:17.320 The allegations were starting to come out. 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:19.319 That's integrity right there, right. 0:13:19.200 --> 0:13:21.640 And I respected her. Now, before we get into all 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:23.760 of this, we have a couple more Tours de France 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:26.000 to get through. So stepping back in time, in two 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:28.000 thousand and four, Lance wins the Tour de France for 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:30.840 the sixth time in our way in a row. Incredible. 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:33.920 He follows that with a record seventh win in the 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:36.120 Tour de France the next year, two thousand and five. 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:39.120 He's also sets a record for the fastest pace in 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:43.000 tour history. He averaged twenty six miles per hour at 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:44.320 every moment of the race. 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:46.760 Essentially, it's like superhuman. 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:47.760 Totally, It's ridiculous. 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:49.360 I mean, he's Greg Lamont. 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:53.439 I'm glad you bring him up. So after that record 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:56.439 setting campaign, Lance announces that he plans to retire from 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:59.679 professional cycling. Why, you may ask, you're at the top 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:01.959 of your Yeah, why because does he put it at 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:04.240 the time, he plans to quote spend more time with 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:05.520 his family and his foundation. 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:09.120 What family, like his wife does? I want nothing to 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:09.480 do with you. 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:12.480 I think he just means his kids, guys. But not 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:15.079 only that, there's also talk that he might go into politics. 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:17.280 It's like the reverse for most people, like they leave 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:19.160 politics to spend time with their friend, their family and 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:22.640 their kids. So he's like, no, I'm gonna go into politics. 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:24.880 And so that's how popular and how famous he was. 0:14:24.920 --> 0:14:27.920 At this point, people thought Lance Armstrong could and should 0:14:27.920 --> 0:14:29.440 be the next governor of Texas. 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:32.640 Wow, what a different timeline, right. 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:35.400 And in fact President George W. Bush, the former governor 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:38.880 of Texas, supported the idea because you see these two Texans. 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:41.320 They used to go cycling together at the President's ranch 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:41.920 in Texas. 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:42.360 Interesting. 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:44.800 Yeah, they were buddies, good buddies. Now, before he can 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:47.640 announce his candidacy for governor of Texas, Lance goes on 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:50.880 the Charlie Rose Show, the old Charlie Roashow Desk, Yeah, 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:53.600 on PBS, and he confesses that he's decided to forego 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:56.440 an entry into politics. I'll give you one guess why 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:58.160 he decides politics is not for. 0:14:58.160 --> 0:15:01.240 Him, Citizens United Ruling. 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:05.120 Good call. But it's actually by this point talk is 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:08.280 all around that Lance is a cheater now, because you 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:10.400 may recall, by this point Lance had been cheating since 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:12.600 way back in the nineties. Yeah, and talk of him 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:14.640 doping dated back to his first victory in the Tour 0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:17.360 de France in nineteen ninety nine. Yeah, despite the many 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:21.040 whispers against him, Lance insists it's a smear campaign. He 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:26.280 vociferously denies he's ever used any performance enhancing drugs. But then, Elizabeth, 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:29.200 the truth begins to come out, and when it does, 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:33.040 it ruins everything. I'm talking all his hard work, his victories, 0:15:33.040 --> 0:15:36.120 his records, his celebrity status, even his cancer foundation. 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:39.920 Well, there was a time when like op research in 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:43.600 politics was so flawless. Oh yeah, and they would get 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:46.800 absolutely everything and then it could tank campaigns. 0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:50.120 Yes, I think that because it works anymore. But well, yeah, 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:52.360 I think these people believe that all the politicians are dirty. 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:55.600 So now you don't have now exactly, but it used. 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:57.560 To be like you knew, like, oh man, they're going 0:15:57.640 --> 0:15:59.640 to lock in and get everything on this person. 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:02.760 He's gonna get Gary harted. Yes, before we get into 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:05.320 all of his what he loses, let's take a little 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:08.760 break and after these messages, we'll get into blood doping. 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:32.280 It's so weird, and we're back, Elizabeth the area. 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:37.200 So about those blood doping allegations. Blood doping, It turns 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:39.360 out all during his seven year run of winds at 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:41.160 the Tour de France, there was plenty of talk that 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:44.160 Lance Armstrong was cheating, and this was helped along by 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:47.520 his tendency to attack his fellow professional cyclists who spoke 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:49.080 out against doping and cycling. 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:52.040 Wait, it's not just against him, but just in general 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:52.600 in general. 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:56.040 You see, back in nineteen ninety nine, when Lance won 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:58.720 his first Tour de France, there was something called the 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:01.640 Festina affair, which sounds far more risky than. 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:02.520 It was sounds fun. 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:06.400 There's this cyclist named Christoph Bessons who rides for Team Festina. 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:08.800 He's the only member of the team who was not doping, 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:11.960 and that same year ninety nine, Christoph writes a series 0:17:12.000 --> 0:17:14.560 of articles for the French press about the prevalence of 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:16.920 doping and cycling and he says it's rampant. 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:17.399 Huh. 0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:21.120 Well, Lance Armstrong don't like that, so he confronts Christoph 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:23.760 and he does it during the ninety nine Tour de. 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:26.320 France, like while they're both on bike riding. 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:30.239 Literally, according to baston Hitting, Armstrong rides up alongside him 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:33.360 and confronts him about his whistleblowing in the French press. Yeah, 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:36.120 like they got time to talk. So apparently Armstrong tells 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:38.760 Bessans and I quote, it was a mistake to speak 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:40.359 out the way I do, And he asked why I 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:42.080 was doing it. I told him that I'm thinking of 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:44.760 the next generation of riders, and then he said, why 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:48.639 don't you leave? Then? What? Yes, it wasn't even that 0:17:48.680 --> 0:17:50.920 he was mentioning Lance's name. He was just talking about how. 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:55.600 Prevalent it is, yeah, in general, and just disappointment with it. Yeah, unbelievable. 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:58.800 So when word of their mid race conflicts emerges, Armstrong 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:01.239 then tells a reporter from a French TV station that 0:18:01.400 --> 0:18:04.520 and I quote, his accusations aren't good for cycling, for 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:07.600 his team, for me, for anybody. If he thinks cycling 0:18:07.640 --> 0:18:09.920 works like that, he's wrong and he'd be better off 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:13.520 going home. There's a heavy emphasis on his accusations aren't 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:14.920 good for me, Lance arms stage. 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:17.320 Yes, exactly. It's one of those things where it's like 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:21.200 there shouldn't be a question of you get out there 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:24.160 and you say doping's bad, you know, just like if 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:27.560 you were to say, like, don't don't do illegal things. Sure, 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:30.120 you know, okay, well that's you know, that's a statement 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:31.440 that shouldn't have blowback. 0:18:32.920 --> 0:18:34.680 I just but if you come out and you say 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:38.760 everyone in Cleveland is doing illegal things. Someone in Cleveland 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:42.080 might get mad well, just as a counterpoint. Yeah, but 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:45.720 really Lance's concern was I don't need people poking around 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:47.719 asking a bunch of questions and coming up with new 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:50.800 drug tests. True, because I'm just beating the ones they 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:53.440