How good was Lance Armstrong REALLY ? 

There's no one better to watch on a bike then Lance at his best.

7 years without crashing out is a feat in itself. He was that good

"everyone hates me because I won while doping, but what about everyone who lost while doping?" - Floyd landis

Lance was my cycling hero. I supported him through all the allegations and was devastated when it was confirmed. Never felt the same about professional cycling since.

At the end of the day they were all using EPO, so the playing field was equal. He was an exceptional cyclist, also to be able to recover from adversity and still be at the top of his game is remarkable. We will never see any one as good as Lance was!

He just revolutionzed the entire sport, from training, tecnology, technique to nutrition. His time trail and climbing techniques were flawless. Many who came after are still using his methods today.

I was there in the peloton from his beginning to his end. He beat me for his only US Pro Championship jersey at US PRO Road Race in Philly. I won the bronze medal that year. Anyone who wasn't there has no idea what they're talking about. Lance won all his tours on a level playing field. Every GC contender was dirty then. Also, if any of the keyboard warriors out there think pro cycling is clean now they are children who should talk to Santa Clause about it when he comes to visit them. Just wait in front of the chimney. There have always been clean riders, there still are. There were more clean riders in America from the 90's to now than there were in Europe. There are many reasons why, but that's another conversation.

The trend started in Europe both doping and looking for scapegoats to blame. The fact is you cannot take a pig, inject EPO and watch it beat everyone, it is still a pig. The illusion of many uninformed and they are out there by the millions, is that you can take any normal cyclist, MTB guy or a casual runner, treat them with EPO and they will beat anyone. The fact is Lance was not only a phenomenal athlete but also a great tactician with one hell of a team, USPS. Like it or not, he was one of the best during his career.

Now they bike 3 mountains in a stage at almost the same speeds as he biked one, and froome won 3 grand tours in a row, but lance was a beast for being that dominant in le tour and never cracking under the pressure of the constant haters....plus gave great interviews

The doping era did not start with Lance Armstrong and it will not finish with him, now days it is very hard understand performances of some top riders

It still hurts to think about Marco Pantani and his final days....

He was very good, great even. In his era every top guy was using some drug or blood doping for recovery. The fact that he didn't crash out of his seven Tours showed how good of a bike handler he was, he had some close scrapes but in his era he was the best period.

He had a VO2 of 85. He doped like everyone else. He was better than everyone else.

He’s so good that they finally gave all his awards to 17 place finishers and beyond to find someone who wasn’t using performance enhancing.

Lance Armstrong has been my hero since his first TDF win. He doped; but everyone else in that era did too. He was genetically gifted; & his focus & drive to be the best of the best was exceptional. He trained incredibly hard. Not to mention all the help & inspiration he gave to all the people suffering from cancer.

Very interesting to think of this question. Agreed, doubtful he would have been so successful. Lances rise and fall was truly heartbreaking, not only for him, but for millions of others.

I really enjoyed your video! Thank you for making it. 🚴‍♂️💯🥵😊

thanks on your input and i ll go with the same answer as people here who understand the accomplishement behind this...HE FOKIN WON 7 TIMES !!

Lance Armstrong is the greater doper ever. I don’t mean that as a slam . They all doped and Lance beat them all. Along with Michelli and Brunyeel; the three were unstoppable. He’s a tactical genius; no wonder they called him, “The General.” Mentally and socially, he’s like MJ or Tiger. I’m glad we’re not friends but they’re sure fun to watch!

The documentary Icarus showed that there are more variables involved with winning than just doping and the pervasiveness of drug use involves entire countries.

It was a matter of time before the sport was going to be discovered, drugs where all over because there was no way to test them , but rumors, where all over, with that been said , the performance of those Athletes was espectacular, the Tour the France is the most demanding sport in human history, things have Changed , but blaming Lance for wrong doing is difficult, the guy is a legend

Lance is a true relentless competitor, very rare to find an athlete who has a drive and will like that.

The only thing I didn't like about that era of cycling was the top riders ridding few races per year. For example Lance rode Tour and maybe Dauphine Libere beforehand. Take Roglič and Pogačar nowdays, they ride many weekly races and also one day races, including monuments.

Your videos are thoughtful and interesting. Thanks for making them.

He was a gifted athlete like all the world tour pros. He had that killer instinct and thats what made him better when doping. Good video!

Loved watching Lance race, greatest ever 🥇

Great video thank you!

Thanks for that from NZ

You ask and attempt to answer a relevant question: How good was he? Damn good, probably physically and mentally the toughest since Eddy Merckx. While I can't condone doping just because everyone did it (apply that to cheating on taxes etc.) I can understand it. Where Armstrong lost me was how he treated those that opposed him and called out his lies. A great athlete and cyclist? No doubt. A great person? No way!

The cycling doping scandal has tempered my view of the sport and of the cyclists involved. But I do admire somewhat Lance's ability to avoid Tour-ending crashes and sickness during the races he competed in.

Underrated channel. Subbed.

Great videos mate

As someone who lived in Switzerland for 12 years (1997-2010), I saw these great stages whenever I could. Lance on Joux-Plane; Hamilton with broken collarbone; etc... I am only sad about one aspect: the UCI and TDF removed Lance as victor, but never addressed the conquests of Richard Virenque, Laurent Jalabert, or Bernard Hinault. Hell, if Eddy introduced Lance to Dr Ferrara, what does that tell us about Merckx? WADA is only 'insurance' for Team and Event owners, and their sponsors: as long as the IOC or UCI can point to WADA, shrug their metaphorical shoulders and whine "But WADA is doing everything possible!", then Coca-Cola™ will continue pumping $300 plus million dollars into such events... 👁️👁️

Thank you for a well done presentation. I just remember a bald, sick man with three incisions in his head, and several lesions in his lungs. Given a 10% chance of survival, and a 0 % chance of bike racing ... Armstrong did whatever it took to make himself into a machine designed to do one thing... win the Tour. Did he do so with help from EPO ... whatever it takes to win, that was his life's focus. 8 hours a day on the bike, more training and working on bike design... to win. Tom Byrne ( I was very close to death my self at the same time so I am prejudiced.)

Phil Anderson said Armstrong pre-dope would finish an hour behind on training rides. That's how effective doping was for him.

He was good, not just the performance, but the way he approached the race. That’s the only race he really focused on for the whole year. Everyone else tries to win a lot of races, but he focused on

They ALL did what they needed to do..Its not all on lance...its a fact. All the blame just on lance was created by the UCI and WADA.

Excellent piece. The world will never really know who was using what and for how long. That goes for Lance Armstrong but also for his competition. He just happened to become better than them all while using it. Just an opinion. If you can’t guarantee s as lol riders are clean, then let them all use what they want to achieve their optimal level of performance.

Lance was the boss.Have a look at footage if you can find it at Bjarne Riis warming up before timtrial in 95 tour when he rode for GWISS , juiced to the gills.

He’s the best man to ride a road bike in history, period!

Great photos! The new gen cyclists are faster (ventoux etc) but that could be tactical. You have a good point in that his mental strength and personality was exceptional to perform that great under the pressure of reporters and haters and french fans. Modern riders, except froome didn't have to deal with so many people trying to take them down

This assessment is so spot on. People often watch the footage of Indurain moving past Armstrong like Armstrong is hardly moving in a 1994 time trial of the Tour de France. It never ceases to amaze me that some people think that Indurain was cleaner than Armstrong during that race. That is completely ludicrous and yet some people believe it.

Spot on mate.

It all comes down who is willing to train the hardest to win. Lance has made that truth obvious. He sacrificed so much for so long that it was a supernatural feat in commitment of itself.

He was an incredible athlete. And as a testicular cancer survivor myself, the amount of money and awareness that he provided was invaluable.

I absolutely love your take on the mental fitness of the older guys vs the newer generation. I agree, that you have to have a certain maturity to pull that crap of, unless…you don’t know about it. Is that possible, that they are being doped without knowing?

Undisputed champion. Doping or not, his training and supervised doping program was the pinnacle of exactly how top performance athletes should be managed. As a tactician, a master. Lance is still tops.

Lo que dijo Anstrong respecto a que solo dopado se gana el tour de Francia, puede ser una gran Verdad. No estamos al interior de los equipos para saber que ayudas farmacéuticas usan los directores y equipo para el corredor bien ubicado de su equipo. . Hoy dia hay mucha tecnología deportiva. Corredores como Nairo Quintana necesitan es un gran equipo para ganar. Yo diría que todo equipo usa fármacos para aumentar rendimiento. Seguiré siendo un fans de L. Anstrong. Un performance impresionante. Un moster

People say he wasn't a great climber when he won his first TDF, but they ignore the fact that people do improve and will get better with the right training program. He trained harder than anyone and doping was just one of many element that made him the great rider he eventually became.

He was potentially a better triathlete than just a cyclist. He was up with the best as a 17yo before he turned to cycling.

He was great. He still is. He helped millions and brought attention to a corrupt sport he just was the best at it. Competitors hated him because they could not dethrone him.

Lance Armstrong won 7 times was never injured or sick. Always was in the right place at the right time . Never crashed out or lost due to a major mechanical. All the athletes in the sport were doping he would have dominated anytime.

Lance was a talent and super ambitious with amazing drive. The drugs made him into a superman combine with ego, narcissism and hardwork with great team it was the perfect cocktail!!

People who don't watch professional cycling but know the (near) household name say Lance is a "cheat" and that he "ruined" peoples' lives!". I reply with the Phil Liggett quote: "You can't turn a donkey into a race horse" ... ... and they still don't get it.

Accepting doping as the normal baseline for every top pro, he was the best ever.

Many wins did not depend on EPO. Smart riding and team support. Brilliant Director. It took a village. Two skinny wheels at 50mph ? No amount of EPO can help ya

Lance still put in the work to make him the best TDF rider of his time.

If doppinng DQed lance from those tour wins, please name me the 'clean' rider that did win?

I think it was very dark period in cycling the Armstrong ERA, I think cycling is in a much better place now where there is far less suspicion on the top riders. And every year I am enjoying the TdF more & more.

So true man i,m an ex pro mtb er and was mates with pro roadies from the eighties thru the nineties and everyone and i mean every one including myself took something to go faster some got caught but not many i never used epo as my hermaticrit was as 50 before elevation trainning and up to 55 at its highest. Lance got cought because he pissed of the wrong people which sucks if i ever met Lance i would shake his hand and thank him for his info and saving me from performance destroying chemo drugs doctors were trying to give me 20 years ago 👍👏 Lance is a legend .

What made Lance Armstrong, was he was consistent. He rode like a well oiled clock. I watched Armstrong ride for many years. And I am yet to see any other bike rider have the precision, that Lance Armstrong did.

I agree, I believe he would of still been successful but not as consistent. Seemed to be a hyper responder to EPO which is a real thing these drugs can be more effective in curtain ppl.

Good video buddy.

Very nice video. This is a very reasonable view and understandable even though I don’t agree with the glory of Lance Armstrong.

We love to build up our heroes and then burn them to ashes. We all want winners. We pay them to win. And when they've won too much, we set them alight and watch the fire. I'm willing to bet dollars that NO ONE who is capable of winning a grand tour is anything remotely close to being a "nice person". It takes competitive ruthlessness and killer instinct to win these races. But we expect these ruthless people to conform to our everyday standards of decency. Yet we love their ability to carve up the competition and leave them gasping on the road. Athletes doping isn't the problem - we "fans" are the real problem. We have no sense of the realities of competitive sport.

If everyone was clean including Lance of course I think he would have won more races. He was a born natural athlete and bike rider but he ended up in a dope or lose situation like the others. It wasn’t his fault but his behaviour was his fault. He treated people like disposable assets although he realises now he made mistakes and is changing his ways. His thick skinned arrogant attitude has saved his life. The media painted a picture of Lance pretty much inventing doping and being the only person to do it. Most people would have gone mentally ill or worse under such pressure. He’s in a good place now and doing good things.

Everyone dopes, Lance wins, no one dopes, Lance wins. Thank you.

Armstrong's.main competitors were also doped so the playing field at the time was level in a way. I respect him because he was a bad-ass and is a survivor.

Pogacar & Roglic, not to mention many others, have some pretty curious results. Cycling now is as good as it has been but, I wouldn’t call it clean.

He was THE BEST at using people and treating them like dirt once their services were no longer to his benefit.

It was universally accepted that pre-cancer Lance was a good rider who would never win a grand tour. He didn't have the build, nor the ability to time trial very well. Cancer changed all of that. He emerged much stronger than before the diagnosis. Moral of the story is as follows: Get cancer and be treated by the best physicians in the world who prescribe incredible medications that will take you from death's bed to the top step on the podium of a grand tour. That story alone is a testament to modern medical science. It's incredibly remarkable when you think about it.

We already have the data on this. Armstrong was a top guy in the American peloton obviously....and an elite endurance athlete. But the issue with these debates is the premise itself of not doped vs. not doped. That is the wrong question. THe real question is "What is the difference between doping regimes in each rider or team in the peloton from 99-2006" Lance was doping from his first pro race including his World Championship win not when he met Ferrari years later.. from Lance's own words. Not doped I think it is totally questionable if he would have ever won a Tour period even against all non-dopers but would have won stages throughout his career and would have been known as a time trailer and sprinter etc.. Ferrari's team-level doping system including blood doping was simply implemented better than other teams - it was a master-level regime implemented with more $ resources and more commitment by Armstrong. They understood how to maintain a certain blood cell level at later stages, across the entire team. The % performance increase at the team level is more than the entire range of speeds across the peloton. It is a much bigger benefit than folks understand.

I raced in the 90's era and doping thing was common with that fact no tour de France winner from the 50's on.clean cycling is not going on let's not fool are self's.

You are 100%right, each individual body reacts to EPO on a different way. Lance was a great cyclist but after his testicular cancer there will be no chance to win mayor compensations without doping. Lance dope to survive the same as everybody else at the time, so we can not only point at him.

thank you

Lance was beating grown men in USCF races as a teenager in Texas before he ever turned pro.

Like the video stated, each athlete responds differently to EPO. To make a great athlete you must begin with a good athlete. To start with a great athlete, add EPO, determination, consistency and hard work, you will get an exceptional athlete. That athlete has to be willing to put in the work if he wants to be that exceptional athlete. Knowing others are doing the same and you have to play catch up, if you want to get to the top, sacrifices must be made to even the playing field. Learning how to be a great tactician and learning how to make EPO the most efficient takes time, planning and patience. You must put in the work to make all of those things come together, you can't be a couch potato and inject yourself with EPO and think you will win the TDF. So, he had to put in the work to be able to beat others who have been playing the game longer. Looking now, you don't see any other athletes that have the same determination, consistency and drive to win as much as Lance. You can find them in other sports, but not so much in the TDF. Just my opinion, every one is entitled to one.

To professionals, winning pays the bills; it revolves around money. When money becomes your prime directive; anything goes! Who was it who said "The love of money is the root of all evil..?"

Talent pool today is so much deeper.

Lance Armstrong can easily won 3 Tour de France 🇫🇷 without the EPO & Retired as a True Champion! The Price & Evilness of Greed! 🙏 Wishing All the Best for Lance Armstrong in his next phase of life! 🕯🌍

I don't disagree with what you said. But. You forgot a very important fact. NO ONE wins the tour without a team. Very big oversight .

I watched him for years no one had the ability he did he was the best and he created interest worldwide in the sport and he did amazing work in cancer awareness with the strong program

And I could be wrong, but didn’t Lance pretty much focus all his training for the Tour de France? Where many other riders did multiple big tours. I think like everyone else he would’ve had a good days and bad days if no drugs were involved. And no he wouldn’t have one as many as he did

Pantani was a pure climber. One of the best in history. But Riis, Olano, Zulle and Indurain? How good were they really? A difficult question. Riis was a very loyal domestique to Fignon for many years. One day Fignon persuaded Riis to go for a stage at the '89 Giro. And he won. The 90's were crazy times. It's difficult 30 years later to analyze how good the riders really were.

Armstrong VO2max was 84, Lemond 96

Yes, Armstrong was a doper. So was almost everyone else. In my mind, anyway you slice or dice it, he was a freak of nature physically and, most of all, mentally. If I recall, Miller (from England) called Armstrong one Christmas, from a pub, to wish him a Merry Christmas. Turns out Armstrong was on a 6 hour training ride. How many other pro cyclists were out doing that kind of ride on Christmas? I never met Armstrong, but my former sponsor did. They told me Armstrong has a pure alpha vibe with eyes that look right through a person. That was when Armstrong was young. If Jamie Paolinette raced with Armstrong, I'm curious to know if he got the same impression. Armstrong was a doper, but he was the best doper to ever stage race. I'm not sure how he would have done pre-EPO, but I'm confident we'd all still know his name.

Check where he finished in the TDF before he started doping.

Who is better at his peak (so far) duel: Pogacar vs Froome ?

THEY ALL did it……..BUT Still, HE WAS THE BEST……….So what Now..?!

If i was drugged(doped) up, i probably wouldn’t even be able to sit on a bike straight 😂

Pretty clear doping is part of the sport. Yesterday, today and in the future...just they way it is...Armstrong was probably the greatest of all time.

In 1980 I was a professional driver. One season. I saw how many riders used dope. I was not accepted in the sport because I did not used any of kind off dope. My choice was made. It was not my world, but I learned a lot about people, money and trust and fair game and pressure too perform. I don't play with my health. But when I had to drive with doped people specially with epo it was hard to follow them. That means if you are not doped you had a difficult time but I know how strong I was without dope. I could ride 400 watts for more than 20 minutes on a body weight of 78 kg in a test. And that was on an age of 20 during my duty in the military. I even was not in a good condition because a couldn't train during the day. There were so much good drivers didn't use dope and leave the sport in a desillution.

You actually need to study VAM records through the years to know when they were rolling the fastest. The 90's was the fastest according to the data. Before EPO in the 1980's the racing was much more exciting because even Hinault could crack on any given mountain. Racing was unpredictable. When Michele Ferrari started creating mutants, it completely altered the dynamics of the sport.

Even though he was doping I think his going through cancer treatment increased his tolerance to pain and this may have also had an impact.

He was the best,end of story

Lance was that good. I raced against him when he made the decision to go from triathlons to road racing. It was in Arizona,Turkey Day Classic. The road race was 60 miles out 60 miles back,I was in the pack with Steve Hegg. All of the sudden there is activity at the front,Lance had broken free from the pack and was on his own break away. The 7-Eleven team started chasing but never caught him. Eddie B was there looking over his new Champion. I was looking forward to racing against him,the next day but he didn't race. Very sad such an incredible talent,made the decision to dope.

so eddy merx knew ferrari

Lance Armstrong is the greatest bicycle racer of all time.

We are generally brought up to be nice people. We follow socially accepted rules where generally we don’t push in, we don’t cheat to win and being competitive to a point where whatever is needed to win is considered not quite right. The Pro Peloton is not a social group ride. It is a collection of driven individuals that by working together in a team will do whatever it takes to get the prize… This is I think still the case. Performance Enhancing Drugs, Blood Doping, better bikes, better food, better coaching and support are factors that can be controlled to high standards. Even to the point of not getting caught. Tactics, weather conditions and mechanicals that are not dealt with quickly have nothing to do with doping but still play their part… Champions become champions because they are not nice people when then they are competing; they will get the front and they will make subdue and beat other people into submission. The ability to suffer is what makes a champion. Armstrong’s psychological make up shows he was willing to suffer had a hard time not being competitive. He had to win. Better athlete, better cyclist or better doper… Made no difference to Lance; he had to be the best. He didn’t care who got hurt or pushed out of the way.

Tyler Hamilton's book about the era, "The Hidden Race" was an incredible read.