The 2 part documentary, Lance, tells the story of how Lance Armstrong rose to prominence in the cycling world and became a household name and then fell from grace after the doping controversy. Lance Armstrong got what he deserved by trying to cheat his way to the top of the sport of cycling and compromising its integrity.
Lance Armstrong is an incredible athlete and there’s no debating that. He started competing at an early age and very quickly ascended to the top of professional cycling. That ascension however is filled with doping scandals, lies and deception. In the early 90s he realised that many of the top pro cyclists had started using a number of performance enhancing drugs to get ahead and he made a decision that would change his life forever by choosing to participate in doping.
When Lance fought cancer and made his return to professional cycling in the mid to late 90s, a lot of people questioned if he could get back to the top of the sport. Not only did he get back to the top of the sport, he won 7 Tour de France titles in a row. An incredible feat for sure but then people started to wonder if it was possible for a man to have gone through what Lance had gone through and achieve what he went on to achieve without a helping hand.
The years would go by as the questions were asked and Lance would stand firm that he hasn’t cheated. He was so sure that he would get away with it that when former members of his team took him to court over the doping allegations in 2005, he lied under oath and it seemed at the time that he had gotten away with it.
USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) conducted a thorough investigation of Lance Armstrong between 2010 and 2013 and after years of public denial he finally admitted to doping. He delivered his admission in 2013 in an exclusive interview with Oprah Winfrey. A man who was once loved by millions around the world, a man who up until the final days of the USADA investigation still had droves of supporters who still believed him and believed in him was reduced to nothing but a liar and a cheat.
In the aftermath of the admission, Lance would be banned from cycling and have his Tour de France titles stripped from him, he would lose tens of millions of dollars in sponsorship money, his biggest sponsor at the time, Nike, severed ties with him and even the charity that he started changed its name from the Lance Armstrong foundation to the Livestrong foundation and severed ties with him in a bid to maintain a positive image.
Lance Armstrong stated that if he could do it again, he wouldn’t change a thing. A response that will surely anger those that were caught up in his many years of lies and deception. He is an example of what happens when you try and cheat your way to the top, it will eventually catch up with you and you can go from being a national hero to a national villian.