Lance Armstrong Lets Us In On How He Cleared 500 Drug Tests To Win Tour De France Titles

According to Lance Armstrong, he avoided anti-doping testing for years by taking advantage of the short half-life of performance-enhancing substances in the bloodstream.

Lance Armstrong Lets Us In On How He Cleared 500 Drug Tests To Win Tour De France Titles

After years of rumours, allegations, and denials, Armstrong finally admitted to doping in a 2013 interview with Oprah Winfrey, which resulted in the loss of his seven Tour de France championships and a lifetime cycling ban. Following a $100 million federal indictment based on the evidence of whistleblowers, including his former colleague Floyd Landis, he settled with the US government for $5 million.

52-year-old Armstrong is well-known in the media and recently spoke on comedian Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast the strategies that let him dominate the sport for ten years.

“One of the lines was, ‘I’ve been tested 500 times, I’ve never failed a drug test.’ I’m not trying to justify anything that I ever said as something I’d want to repeat again,” Armstrong stated.

“That’s not a lie. That’s the truth. There was no way around the test. When I pissed in the cup and they tested the piss in the cup it passed.”

From 1999 until 2005, Armstrong won seven successive Tour de France events. However, his championships were revoked after it was discovered that he had used performance-enhancing drugs.

According to what he said to Maher, the “rocket fuel” was EPO, a chemical that both speeds up the body’s removal of red blood cells and increases their creation.

“The truth of all of this is some of these substances, primarily the one that is the most beneficial, has a four-hour half life,” Armstrong explained.

“So, certain substances, whether it be cannabis or anabolics [steroids] or whatever have much longer half lives. You can smoke that joint and go to work, driving your tractor, or whatever, in two weeks and test positive because the half life is much longer.

“With EPO, which was the rocket fuel that changed not just our sport but every endurance sport, you have a four-hour half life. So, it leaves the body very quickly. And with a four-hour half-life you can just do the math.”

How much did Lance Armstrong lose?

However, Armstrong estimates that by coming clean about doping, he lost $100 million since he lost the support of longtime sponsors and companies like Nike, Michelob, Oakley, and Trek Bicycle. Armstrong’s association with the cancer support group Livestrong Foundation was severed as well.

What happened to Lance Armstrong?

Lance Armstrong, a cyclist, was officially stripped of his seven Tour de France victories on this day in 2012 after it was alleged that he had used performance-enhancing drugs and had demanded that his colleagues take them to help him win races.

 

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