July 24, 2005 was the most record of cycling for seven years. On this day, the light and later shadow figure Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France for the seventh time in a row – the highlight of a fraudulent career.
Yellow. Everything was yellow around Lance Armstrong. The best cyclist in the world slipped into the legendary yellow jersey. For the seventh time in a row, he won the toughest tour in the world, the Tour de France. In addition to Armstrong, his daughters stood in yellow clothes, held yellow flowers in his hand and looked up at her father – the legend.
Lance Armstrong had achieved what no one had done before him: with the entrance to the finish in Paris, the American secured his seventh tour title. As the dominator of cycling, he ended his career after his last big loop. The people on the side of the road donated Armstrong to standing ovation and said goodbye to retirement.
But without a word, Armstrong did not want to cede from the world stage. As a farewell, he turned to all the doubters who had confronted his career with doping suspicions. “I’m sorry for you,” said Armstrong in the microphone on the podium of the Champs-Élysées. “I’m sorry that you don’t have great dreams. I’m sorry that you don’t believe in miracles.”
Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso grin next to Armstrong. Until he dies, he will be a fan of the tour. “Vive Le Tour!” July 24, 2005 went down in history as a record day: Lance Armstrong was the light form of cycling.
From the light to the shadow figure
Well, many years after the doping envelopes around Armstrong, everything is different: July 24, 2005 is rather the day when Armstrong’s fraudulent career reached its zenith. Lance Armstrong became a shadow form of cycling.
Former teammates such as Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton, who were even transferred to the doping, gave the impetus. It heavily burdened Armstrong – who had given a comeback from 2009 to 2011. The US anti-doping agency initiated investigations against the Texan.
Testosterone, growth hormones, EPO and cortisone – that was the doping cocktail, the Armstrongs motor has been driving since the 1990s, according to the final findings of the investigators. “The successes of the US Postal team and from Lance Armstrong were achieved with massive use of doping agents that has never been uncovered in this size in sports history,” said the USADA report. “More than a dozen former companions confirm that Mr. Armstrong reached for doping from the start to the end of his career.”
Armstrong falls on the feet
The International Cycling Association UCI, even a helper in the covering of Armstrong’s doping practices, reacted on October 22, 2012. The UCI recognized Armstrong since August 1998.
The American lost all seven yellow jerseys in one fell swoop. Sponsors terminated contracts, Armstrong was faced with claims for damages of more than $ 100 million that threatened bankruptcy. Armstrong himself only confessed his doping abuse in 2013 on Oprah Winfrey’s show.
In April 2018, Armstrong finally turned out of the largest compensation process. The U.S. Ministry of Justice had requested $ 100 million from Armstrong because he had caused great damage to the state sponsor US Postal. Armstrong prevented the government from paying five million dollars to the government and turned the impending bankruptcy. Armstrong has finished financially on his feet.
That is why he obviously does not have to regret his doping practices. If he had been back in the situation in 1995, when doping was normal in the peloton, he would probably dop again, Armstrong said 2015 in an interview with the “BBC”.
This also reminds of his farewell after the seventh tour title on July 24, 2005. At that time, Armstrong called against his critics to say goodbye: “I don’t regret anything.”
Florian Pütz