WEBVTT - BONUS: Lance Armstrong 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:09.080 On a crisp morning in twenty twelve, the world awoke 0:00:09.440 --> 0:00:13.200 to a revelation that would shake the very foundations of 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:19.120 professional cycling. Lance Armstrong, seven times Tour de France champion 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:23.680 and global icon, had been living a double lie. Behind 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:28.360 the medals, the charitable foundations, and the carefully curated image 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:33.839 of invincible athleticism lay as secret, decades in the making, 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:40.920 a sophisticated, systematic doping scheme that had deceived teammates, rivals, 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:45.760 and millions of fans worldwide. What began as whispers in 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:49.720 locker rooms and suspicious test results had become a full 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:55.280 blown investigation, peeling back layer after layer of lies, manipulation, 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:59.640 and betrayal. The question wasn't just how he had cheated, 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:04.400 It was how someone so adored could orchestrate such a 0:01:04.520 --> 0:01:08.560 massive deception for so long. This week, ge, we're talking 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:10.360 about Lance Armstrong. 0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:13.640 Oh and those silly rubber yellow bands. 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:19.280 Those silly well thank you for finally saying a good one. Finally, 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:25.640 I'd he built his empire on gold and air, only 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:29.560 to watch it to solve like missed at sunrise. For years, 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:33.240 Lance arms Strong seemed untouchable, a force of nature. On 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:38.120 two wheels, a symbol of perseverance, a symbol of perseverance 0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:42.679 against cancer, A beacon of hope for millions. His victories 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:46.280 were celebrated not just in the arena of professional cycling, 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:50.840 but in living rooms across the globe. He inspired others. 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:55.600 Charities flourished in his name, Endorsements poured in His story 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:58.720 became larger than sport itself. 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:01.240 He was a legend to the world. 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:05.840 He was immortal because I don't like there aren't. I 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:10.160 can't really think of any cyclists who aren't Australian whose 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:10.800 names I know. 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:15.160 Just Mark philippusis probably the only one I can think of. 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:16.360 Think so. 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:22.280 But beneath the shine of metals and accolades, the foundations 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:25.840 were fragile. The air he had built upon was a 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:31.000 carefully constructed illusion, a network of banned substances, secret routines, 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:36.400 and silent complicit teammates. Each Tour de France triumph, once 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:40.960 considered the pinnacle of human endurance, was now revealed to 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:46.120 be a carefully choreographed deception. The higher he climbed, the 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:50.680 more precarious the pedestal became, until the slightest whisper of 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:54.919 truth threatened to unravel everything, and then the mist began 0:02:55.000 --> 0:03:00.000 to lift. Investigations, testimonies, and confessions peeled away the golden vine. 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:05.520 Sponsors withdrew accolades, were stripped, and fans wrestled with disbelief. 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:10.840 The legend of Lance Armstrong, once untouchable, cracked and faded, 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:15.679 leaving behind the stark reality of ambition, vanity, and human fallibility. 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:19.560 In the end, what remained was not the glint of gold, 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:23.840 but the fragile memory of what happens when brilliance is built. 0:03:23.960 --> 0:03:24.520 On air. 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:27.480 Before we meet Lance, I want to give you a 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:32.840 brief overview of the Tour de Frances. Could you you 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:36.280 are We're proud of you too, Baba. You think like 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:38.480 you are quite amazing at your sport. 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:41.600 Please, I hope you're watching that on the YouTube. He 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:44.000 just walked up to me and just writing right in 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:46.600 my face and pushed me away from the Microsoft, very 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:48.000 jealous about it. 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:50.800 Do you know much about the Tour Defance? 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:54.480 No, not really to de France, no. 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:57.839 About I just know the yellow Jacket and that it's 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:01.640 like the longest Smalls. It's certainly the most prestigious cycling 0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:02.800 road race in the world. 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:05.200 Battle I know about it. Oh, it's a battle. 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:07.760 I thought I thought you said it's a battle, I 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:09.600 know about it. No, you said that's about. 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:11.240 It's about all I know. 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:15.480 It's a battle. Battle, I know about it. That's me. 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:17.160 I think I don't know battles. 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:20.120 I know battles, magis straight. I employ you. It's a battles, 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:20.840 I know a battle. 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:25.640 When the race started in nineteen o three, which is 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:32.680 how long after adh. 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:34.520 That is one thy nine hundred and it's either two 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:35.000 or three. 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:37.279 Years after, so close. Not regod at math. 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:41.520 Most people were amateurs and I kind of love that 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:44.960 you look at like early sport, like especially like football 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:47.440 here AFL what we call it in Australia. You look 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:50.040 at like these men that were like butchers and worked 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:51.000 full time. 0:04:51.640 --> 0:04:54.560 Yeah yeah, not myself to. 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:58.760 A butcher works full time plays games. It's your Instagram buyer, 0:04:58.800 --> 0:04:58.920 was it? 0:04:59.000 --> 0:04:59.320 Yep? 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:01.640 Can you your Instagram by to that for a week. 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:04.359 That's very funny a buddhacher who works full time and 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:04.960 plays game. 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:05.279 Yeah. 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:07.200 The moment just says busy mum. So I'm happy to. 0:05:07.240 --> 0:05:08.440 Does it really? Yeah? 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:12.680 Busy mum. I think that's very funny. Busy mum. 0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:16.400 It is to stay awake and and be able to 0:05:16.520 --> 0:05:19.680 endure their grueling challenge. They would take in hands as 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:21.200 to stay awake and get through. 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:23.440 Can you do you have hear what the challenge is? 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:24.159 I don't know anything. 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:26.240 I'm going to go into it. Don't you worry about it, 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:29.200 baby girl? Even drinking to keep them going. The Tour 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:32.880 de France is an annual men's multiple stage road cycling 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:36.760 race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:40.560 most prestigious of the Grand Tours. The race was organized 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:43.840 in nineteen oh three to increase sales for a newspaper 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:47.400 and has been held annually ever since, except when it 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:51.359 was not held from nineteen fifteen to nineteen eighteen and 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:54.880 nineteen forty to nineteen forty six due to the War 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:59.040 COVID nineteen. Due to the Two World Wars, as a 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:02.880 tour gain dominance and popularity, the race was lengthened and 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:07.000 gained more international participation. The modern editions of the Tour 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:11.440 de France consist of twenty one day long stages over 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:14.920 a twenty three or twenty four day period and cover 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:20.320 approximately three thousand and five hundred kilometers in total. What 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:23.440 this is why it is a sport of endurance. 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:26.760 And it's not there's no like realay aspect to it. 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:29.360 It's one like each team person. 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:30.719 It is a ten team. 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:33.360 Yes, so individual American team. 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:37.919 So an individual won't ride the twenty. 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:39.240 One thing you can be a captain of. I don't 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:40.800 know if you can be, and please do tell us 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:42.479 if your game. I don't think you can actually be 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:46.240 a an individual individual. I think you ride for a 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:47.479 team as far as I know. 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:51.039 Yeah, but does anyone ride every day of it? 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:51.960 Yeah? 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:53.560 You do? You ride every day? 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:57.480 Yeah, that's what I'm asking A cyclist will ride all 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:01.279 twenty will ride the three thousand something killed? Holy shit? 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:04.360 Yeah, so you're in a team. But yes, each rider 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:08.920 they like to be called girl, don't mean. Lance Armstrong's 0:07:08.960 --> 0:07:11.760 mother had him when she was just seventeen years old 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:12.920 and he was. 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:15.160 Zero at that point. 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:19.120 His biological father and mother didn't stay together, and by 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:22.840 the age of three years old, his mother had remarried 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:25.240 to a very strict drill sergeant by the name of 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:30.320 Terry Armstrong, and Lance hated him. So that so Armstrong 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:33.760 was and yeah, not his biological And I know, something 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:35.800 as small as leaving the door open will be enough 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:40.040 to incur a punishment. Lance Armstrong loved to compete from 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:43.160 a young age. He didn't have the skill to play baseball, 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:46.400 the coordination to play basketball, or the strength to play football. 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:50.040 While he couldn't compete in these sports against his components, 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:54.600 he could outlast them. In nineteen ninety four, my when 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:57.600 I was in prep, I was three years old and. 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:01.760 One nine hundred and ninety. I think it's two years ad. 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:03.000 She's so close. 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:07.080 In nineteen ninety four, thirteen year old Lance tried insurance sports, 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:11.080 mostly triathlons. He was a teen thirteen. He was obsessed 0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:14.200 with training and would keep a log of his workouts, 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:17.880 gaining on his competitors each time as much as he could. 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:21.360 I wish I could become obsessed with something like that. 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:25.440 Yeah you know, challenge, Yeah, yeah. 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:28.640 I'm obsessed with it. In toastis and sleeping, yes, you. 0:08:28.640 --> 0:08:31.320 Are obsessed with I'm not saying toasty you are obsessed 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:34.480 with sleeping. When Lance was still a child, he competed 0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:39.080 in swimming and cycling. When he began, Terry, his stepdad, 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:42.920 became even more strict and even more intense than before. 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:46.920 Terry later attributed much of Lance's success to his strict 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:50.640 treatment of him, saying later that when Lance fell off 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:53.080 his bike, he said, if you're gonna come out of 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:56.120 here and quit and cry, then we're done. I'm not 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:57.559 going to have a quitter because he. 0:08:57.559 --> 0:08:58.320 Fell off his bar. 0:08:58.520 --> 0:08:59.000 Yeah. 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:01.959 Can I play sing a song about a man named Terry? 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:05.960 Could you do it at the end to end the episode, 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:08.120 because I think I know it rhymes with Mary, and 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:11.560 I'd love to hear it at the end. Anger and 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:16.439 frustration became a big motivator in Lance's life. When he 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:19.440 got angry at Terry, he said, you're not my dad, 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:23.160 something that he that he said later to coaches and 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:26.160 Jesus had actually said to Joseph. 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:27.079 Oh my god, how many years after. 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:32.080 Us Joseph lance Water did in the fact check. Lance 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:36.720 wanted to continue racing in triathlons. This was a real 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:37.880 passion for him. 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:41.560 And how many sports are there in a triathlon? 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:43.679 I don't have these facts. 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:47.800 I wish it wouldn't throw me out like that. Insurance 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:51.800 sport became his superpower. He won even though he was 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:56.439 under the age limit. His mother even helped forged Forde 0:09:56.440 --> 0:09:59.400 the documentation for Shadowing. 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:02.560 Oh that was stunning. 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:04.199 I know we said we wouldn't do songs to the en, 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:06.559 but I want to that one. By the age of sixteen, 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:10.560 he turned pro. At eighteen, he was the national sprint 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:12.320 course triathlon champion. 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:13.000 Wow. 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:14.320 But he didn't really. 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:17.800 Care enough about running or swimming. His true passion was 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:25.080 Toboggans so close cycling the other one's the opposite of that. Yes, 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:29.920 cycling is the opposite of that. After graduating, No no sports. 0:10:30.000 --> 0:10:33.760 After graduating, he moved to Austin. Likey Austin and began racing. 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:37.440 In nineteen ninety one, Well I was born. He was 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:41.800 just twenty years old and won the US Amateur national championship. 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:44.679 It earned him a spot on the nineteen ninety two 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:45.720 Olympic team. 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:46.800 Wow. 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:49.480 He ended up finishing fourteenth and was embarrassed by that. 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:50.720 Oh my god. 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:52.760 It felt like he needed to lift his game. 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:56.240 You know what they say, if you're not first, you're 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:57.400 fourteenth good. 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:02.839 Immediately after that he joined the Motorola team. He participated 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:06.280 in his first road race. He finished dead last. He 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:10.679 was undeterred, and he became more and more competitive. He 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:14.640 had his sight set on the Tour to four the 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:18.680 false Now the Tour de France changes route every year, so. 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:19.840 We're going to go a bit more into it. At 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:20.200 this time. 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:24.319 It's the biggest phrase. Hold over twenty three days in July. 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:28.080 The riders in the peloton, that's called a term for 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:32.520 a group of riders struggle up at least two mountain rangers. 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:36.040 It's the ultimate test of skill and insurance. But Lance 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:39.000 was just twenty two years old at the time. Wow, 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:41.520 the average age of a rider in the Tour de France. 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:42.600 Do you I guess? 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:44.480 Yeah, I do want to guess. 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:48.800 Thirty eight sixty seven years old to no, he is 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:49.360 twenty eight? 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:53.840 Did you catchphrase? What? What? 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:56.000 I actually didn't think it would be thirty eight, but 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:58.240 when you were saying twenty two was so wild. 0:11:58.720 --> 0:12:01.040 Twenty eight but still, I mean athlete, That is a 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:04.600 huge difference. I guess six years there. They have more 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:06.120 diverse skills at that age. 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:13.560 Agility, Yeah, yeah, that more diverse skills. Apparently, agility the 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:17.880 strength to power through and are better with endurance. Lance 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:23.040 had ambition, though he would win an individual space. Each 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:26.760 individual race makes up the Tour de France. He was 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:30.439 on the nine man Tour de France team with Motorola. 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:33.360 He was chosen for his express riding, so he was 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:36.320 really good at Sprints. The eighth stage was through the 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:40.520 hilly French countryside. In most stages, a few riders try 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:44.240 to ride out into breakaway groups so the sprinters can 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:47.760 compete for the win. In the last few miles of 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:51.600 the eighth stage, a breakaway group surged ahead. Lance and 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:54.120 two others were able to bridge the gap, and it 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:58.160 paid off. Lance's group had a six second lead. 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:03.240 Should name pronounced Lance? If we're talking about to Minfong, Let's. 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:04.200 Call him Lance from now on. 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:09.840 This was the first major victory of Lance's career. The 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:12.559 Tour de France had been a major success for him 0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:15.959 and his team In nineteen ninety three. It lined up 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:20.400 a road race in the World Championship in Norway. Many believe, 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:26.920 Wait what Norway? Many believed Lance would win the race. 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:31.840 Conditions perfectly suited his combative approach. It would be it 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:34.400 would be who could stay on the bike the longest, 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:37.720 who was the most ambitious and the most determined. As 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:42.120 the one hundred and sixty mile race progressed, Lance rode 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:45.840 away from the back and raised his arms in victory alone. 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:50.400 He was a champion. He had accomplished more than other 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:54.080 cyclists had ever dreamed of. He was the next big thing. 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:57.959 He set out to win the Thrift Triple Crown in 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:01.800 nineteen ninety three. This was a trio of cycling events 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:04.640 in the US. Any rider who can win all three 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:07.479 scored a whopping one million dollar prime. 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:09.720 Oh in the nineties Yeah wow. 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:12.920 Lance won the first two, sending him up for a 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:16.920 massive payday if he could win all of them. He 0:14:16.960 --> 0:14:19.120 met up with the captain of the rival team and 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:22.480 he laid out a deal. If they let him win, 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:26.280 he would give them fifty thousand dollars in winnings. Since 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:27.720 they weren't already in the running. 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:28.720 It sounded pretty. 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:31.720 Amazing to them, except that it's cheating. On the day, 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:36.200 he got a comfortable lead, he coasted to victory. He 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:38.760 then found the racer at the hotel and actually gave 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:41.360 him one hundred thousand dollars more than promised. They did 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:43.720 said Merry Christmas? 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:47.160 Was it Christmas? Or did you just say no? Okay? 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:50.360 He began racing. Mince snap at you like that. 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:54.800 He began racing more overseas and against people he wouldn't 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:56.160 always be able to buy off. 0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:58.760 Hang on, is that is this buying this other? After that? 0:14:58.880 --> 0:14:59.440 Like was in? 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:00.640 Did he get trouble for that. 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:02.920 I don't think anyone knew at the time. 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:04.680 I kept his. 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:07.240 Winning streak going for a few years, a stage in 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:10.680 the Tour de France and a few races in Europe. 0:15:11.080 --> 0:15:15.720 At this point he was taking testosterone and cortizone, both 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:19.320 are illegal in pro cycling, but most athletes take them anyway. 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:23.840 They were illegal but difficult to control, especially for endurance 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:26.640 sports and everything. A lot of people were taking stuff. 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:29.160 Your difficult to control, as in it's difficult to control 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:30.520 where the people are. Yeh yeh. 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:36.760 Lance moved to Italy to train, and while he was 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:41.440 using enhancements, he and his teammates kept losing. He was 0:15:41.480 --> 0:15:43.800 getting mad at and madder, and he discovered a drug 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:44.680 called EPO. 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:49.680 He's getting mad because he's taking testosterone. Yeah, yes, scread yes, 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:51.120 I'm a medical doctor. 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:55.920 It's an enhancement drug that increases your red blood cell count, 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:59.960 which enables you to exert yourself longer than you normally would. 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:03.359 It's called epopo. Is that why three po. 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:06.600 Yeah? 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:10.120 Yeah, yeah, you don't have any more to the punchline, 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:10.720 so keep going. 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:13.840 Yeah. There's also no way to test it. Also, at 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:15.440 the time, there's no way to test if you're taking 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:18.200 the drug. In nineteen ninety five, he learned that someone 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:21.880 he knew was working with doctor. He was a sports 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:25.400 medicine expert. You and did a bit of off the 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:26.000 book work. 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:27.080 Yeah, that's what I do. 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:29.760 He worked in a beat up station wagon. 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:32.440 That's how you know. Pretty off book, isn't it he works? Yeah? 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:33.840 Where was your office? It's a beat up stations. 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:35.560 I feel like it'd be one of those ones with 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:37.320 like a mattress in the back as well. 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:43.480 Usually athletes pay him out of their winnings. So commission 0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:45.840 pays doctor that works in a picked up station wagon. 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:48.400 Things are going pretty well for doc very. 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:54.640 I'm picturing a better coal soul. Oh yeah, like you 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:57.880 know how he's like the kind of dodgy lawyer yours. 0:16:58.080 --> 0:16:58.920 I'll picture. 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:03.040 Piggy no for any reason, No, no, no, no, no no no. 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:06.120 I was just picturing me going I was talking that 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:07.520 she was No, no, I'm. 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:09.359 Just picturing her nice. 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:13.359 Lance paid him tens of thousands of dollars a month 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:17.000 to be the EPO program, So now he's buying a really. 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:18.159 Nice station wagon. 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:22.679 In nineteen ninety six, Lance was the top ranked cyclist 0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:26.040 in the world. He was living in a beautiful house 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:30.119 all by himself. He's doping got results. He was the 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:33.480 first and only American to win a two hundred kilometer 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:37.200 race in Belgium. He competed in the Olympics and signed 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:43.760 an endorsement deal with Nike, Nike Nike. In nineteen ninety six, 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:46.600 he was diagnosed with cancer because he was a bikey 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:48.399 BIKEI Nike Nike. 0:17:48.520 --> 0:17:50.399 That wasn't about cancer, sorry. 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:54.159 And only had a fifty percent chance of living particular, 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:54.480 wasn't it. 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:56.560 Yeah, he dropped out of the Tour de Frent. 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:01.159 He was twenty five years Oh my god. Yeah, diagnosed 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:04.840 with testicular cancer. The disease had spread throughout the day. 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:08.719 After his diagnosis, he had his right testicle removed and 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:12.240 flew to have brain surgery. Luckily he had our great 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:14.240 support system to see him well. 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:17.160 It had spread to his brain. Yeah, oh my god. 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:21.000 The doctors asked if you had ever taken performance enhancing drugs. 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:25.320 He straightaway said yes, yes, and listed a long list 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:29.359 including epo, steroids and more. He said this in front 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:30.840 of all of his friends quite openly. 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:33.359 Yeah. Well, when you've got your going in from brain surgery, 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:34.479 you're going to be honest about it. 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:37.720 His friends were absolutely shocked. Lots of people suspected the 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:42.320 drugs are linked with the cancer. Lancer's recovery was brutal 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:45.359 for a few months. He was declared cancer free in 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:46.520 nineteen ninety seven. 0:18:46.600 --> 0:19:10.879 That isn't miraculously, Yeah. 0:18:59.440 --> 0:18:59.880 He's all. 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:03.080 Motorola team had folded by then, but he joined the 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:07.760 newly formed USPS team sponsored by the Postal Service. 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:11.600 So when Motorola folded, did they say goodbye. 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:12.960 Mortal it's a flip phone. 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:17.000 Yes, oh and folded. Yeah, that was making but that 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:17.440 one's better. 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:26.359 Actually, they signed Lance. He was a low risk person 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:29.360 to take on. If he returned to his previous heights, 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:33.560 he would be the best rider, but also the publicity 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:37.200 would be great. At the time, Lance met a new girlfriend. 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:39.679 They got a kitten together and called it Chemo. 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:42.320 Oh sweetest, I'm not sure about that. 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:47.440 He was working back to full fitness slowly, so it 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:50.080 took a long time obviously. After the treatment and everything, 0:19:50.520 --> 0:19:53.440 Lance decided to move back to Austin. He started to relax, 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:57.640 do some soul searching and had a new cancer charity setup. 0:19:58.080 --> 0:20:01.280 He couldn't just relax and soon wanted to just spend 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:05.159 all of his time racing again. He had his cancer 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:07.360 charity at this point, but he needed to get back 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:10.960 out there more and more and kind of compete as 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:11.720 much as he could. 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:14.680 It's just that personality exactly. Yeah, it's all he's ever 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:17.400 known and that's what he loves exactly. 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:22.680 On July eighth, nineteen ninety eight, French customs officers stopped 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:24.600 a Spanish cyclist at the border. 0:20:24.760 --> 0:20:28.119 I would have said this, ahit, let's stop in French. 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:31.399 I learned that word because when I didn't exchange in 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:33.879 France when I was seventeen, and. 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:35.200 What did you get into return? 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:40.520 The younger brother in the family that I stayed with, 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:43.199 his name was Victor, and he was like just like 0:20:43.240 --> 0:20:46.240 a naughty teenage boy. There was just always like bouncing 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:48.439 off the walls and just being naughty, and so the 0:20:48.680 --> 0:20:52.560 parents were always going avidor avidor that's all. I always 0:20:52.600 --> 0:20:54.160 remember that stop stop. 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:58.040 When they searched his car, they found full bags of 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:02.359 EPO Sarah. Yeah, the Spanish person are steroids and more. 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:04.919 It was three days before the Tour de France was 0:21:05.040 --> 0:21:08.560 set to start. It set off a huge chain reaction. 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:12.240 The entire Spanish team was thrown off the tour. 0:21:12.119 --> 0:21:14.200 The whole team. 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:14.800 Wow. 0:21:15.000 --> 0:21:16.720 Also like in jury sports. I don't know if the 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:17.960 whole team were using. 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:21.760 But if it were, but yeah, when your classmate does 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:24.280 something naughty and you all get punished, you all. 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:27.200 Get dead, apple rots, all of the bananas. I'm always 0:21:27.240 --> 0:21:27.520 saying that. 0:21:27.800 --> 0:21:29.960 Yes, you've always said that, but I've always said it's 0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:30.400