Lance Armstrong: The rise, fall, and growth of a cycling legend | The Peter Attia Drive, Ep. 178

KEYPOINTS

• 01

  An endurance prodigy from Plano.

  Lance Armstrong started as a swimmer and runner in Plano, Texas, where elite swim training meant around 10 miles a day, then became a pro triathlete as a teenager; he says he was effectively a pro athlete at 15, around when his mother threw out his stepfather Terry Armstrong. He went to the junior world championships in Moscow in 1989 and switched to full-time cycling around 1990–91.

• 02

  Cycling was inspired by Americans like LeMond.

  Seeing US Olympic medals in 1984 and Greg LeMond's dramatic 1989 Tour win made cycling exciting for Armstrong. He joined Motorola in 1992 and became world road champion in 1993. At 175 lb he was big for a climber; he raced the Tours at 160–165 lb, versus about 125 lb for Marco Pantani.

• 03

  EPO changed the sport almost overnight.

  Armstrong says between 1993 and 1994 the peloton suddenly changed; in 1994 three Gewiss riders rode away together and the press exploded. He started EPO around 1995, then joined Dr. Michele Ferrari in 1996. Bjarne Riis, who won the 1996 Tour, was nicknamed 'Mr. 60%' for a reported hematocrit around 60–66. Before the 50% hematocrit limit, there was no real ceiling.

• 04

  EPO's effect: roughly 10%.

  Armstrong's go-to test, a 30-minute climb of the Col de la Madone (grade around 7–8%), averaged about 500 watts at 165 lb, roughly 7 W/kg, in 1999 and 2001. He estimates he'd have done about 450 W clean, around 10% less, which is still elite; he compares Bradley Wiggins at about 440–450 W.

• 05

  Racing hematocrit was kept below the limit, with transfusions.

  Under the 50% rule, teams aimed for about 46–47 to leave a margin for dehydration or illness. Armstrong says the team used one transfused bag during the 2000 Tour, later two, and in 2003 he started the Tour with a hematocrit around 38–42.

• 06

  Testicular cancer nearly killed him.

  After months of denial and torturous symptoms, he was diagnosed in 1996. His hCG was around 100,000 ('very pregnant'); above two is a problem and 500 is serious. He had an orchiectomy, then discovered brain metastases only when he got to Indiana for treatment after starting chemotherapy elsewhere.

• 07

  Livestrong was born from survivorship.

  Armstrong created his foundation to help cancer survivors, later spending around $600,000 on lobbying and strategy for a cancer initiative, which he views as funding advocacy rather than self-promotion.

• 08

  Return, dominance and rivalry.

  After coming back in 1998 and nearly quitting, he won the 1999 Tour. The 2000 Tour brought intense rivalry with Pantani and Jan Ullrich, whom he saw as a real enemy; 2001, famous for 'the look' at Ullrich, was physically his best. He won his seventh Tour at 34 in 2005, retired, and returned in 2009 to finish on the podium.

• 09

  A near-quit in 1998 became a comeback.

  After cancer, Armstrong raced Paris–Nice in 1998, quit, came home and nearly retired, then got back into shape for only about nine months before going all in for 1999. The 1998 team was so disorganized he calls it a mess, and that year's Festina doping scandal shook the sport. After his strong ride in the Vuelta, where he expected maybe a top-10 Tour finish, his director was '100% sure' he could win the Tour, a belief that changed Armstrong's ambitions.

• 10

  Coming clean.

  After Tyler Hamilton's book (around 2011–12) and mounting investigations, Armstrong decided to tell the truth in January 2013. He acknowledges the people he hurt, emphasizes learning from his downfall and helping others after their own falls from grace, and says that at 50, with perhaps 40–50 years left, there's still 'a lot left to be told'.

• 11

  Advice to his younger self.

  He suggests the 15-, 25-, 35- and even 45-year-old versions of himself would not have handled the downfall; growth required that experience. He is grateful that people can reinvent themselves today.

• 12

  Staying fit at 50.

  Armstrong weighs about 180 lb, about 15 lb over his Tour weight, which is modest for a retired cyclist. He can still swim 100-yard repeats on about 1:10 in Austin, compared with the 1:05 touch-and-go he once managed, and says he's fitter than most 50-year-olds.