115 Facts About Lance Armstrong

Lance Edward Armstrong is an American former professional road racing cyclist.

Lance Armstrong became globally famous for winning the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005 after recovering from testicular cancer.

Lance Armstrong was later stripped of all his titles when an investigation found that he had used performance-enhancing drugs over his career.

At age 16, Armstrong began competing as a triathlete and was a national sprint-course triathlon champion in 1989 and 1990.

Lance Armstrong had success between 1993 and 1996 with the World Championship in 1993, the Clasica de San Sebastian in 1995, Tour DuPont in 1995 and 1996, and a handful of stage victories in Europe, including stage 8 of the 1993 Tour de France and stage 18 of the 1995 Tour de France.

Lance Armstrong retired from racing at the end of the 2005 Tour de France, but returned to competitive cycling with the Astana team in January 2009, finishing third in the 2009 Tour de France later that year.

Lance Armstrong became the subject of doping allegations after he won the 1999 Tour de France.

In 2012, a United States Anti-Doping Agency investigation concluded that Lance Armstrong had used performance-enhancing drugs over the course of his career and named him as the ringleader of "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen".

Lance Armstrong received a lifetime ban from all sports that follow the World Anti-Doping Code, ending his competitive cycling career.

In January 2013, Lance Armstrong publicly admitted his involvement in doping.

Lance Armstrong was named after Lance Rentzel, a Dallas Cowboys wide receiver.

Lance Armstrong's parents divorced in 1973 when Lance was two.

At the age of 12, Lance Armstrong started his sporting career as a swimmer at the City of Plano Swim Club and finished fourth in Texas state 1,500-meter freestyle.

Lance Armstrong stopped swimming-only races after seeing a poster for a junior triathlon, called the Iron Kids Triathlon, which he won at age 13.

At 16, Lance Armstrong became a professional triathlete and became national sprint-course triathlon champion in 1989 and 1990 at 18 and 19, respectively.

In 1992, Lance Armstrong turned professional with the Motorola Cycling Team, the successor of 7-Eleven team.

In 1993, Lance Armstrong won 10 one-day events and stage races, but his breakthrough victory was the World Road Race Championship held in Norway.

Lance Armstrong was 97th in the general classification when he retired after stage 12.

Lance Armstrong collected the Thrift Drug Triple Crown of Cycling: the Thrift Drug Classic in Pittsburgh, the K-Mart West Virginia Classic, and the CoreStates USPRO national championship in Philadelphia.

Lance Armstrong is alleged by another cyclist competing in the CoreStates Road Race to have bribed that cyclist so that he would not compete with Armstrong for the win.

Lance Armstrong finished the year strongly at the World Championships in Agrigento, finishing in 7th place less than a minute behind winner Luc Leblanc.

Lance Armstrong won the Clasica de San Sebastian in 1995, followed by an overall victory in the penultimate Tour DuPont and a handful of stage victories in Europe, including the stage to Limoges in the Tour de France, three days after the death of his teammate Fabio Casartelli, who crashed on the descent of the Col de Portet d'Aspet on the 15th stage.

Lance Armstrong became the first American to win the La Fleche Wallonne and again won the Tour DuPont.

On October 2,1996, at the age of 25, Lance Armstrong was diagnosed with stage three testicular cancer.

Lance Armstrong visited urologist Jim Reeves in Austin, Texas, for diagnosis of his symptoms, including a headache, blurred vision, coughing up blood and a swollen testicle.

The standard treatment for Lance Armstrong's cancer was a "cocktail" of the drugs bleomycin, etoposide, and cisplatin.

The first chemotherapy cycle that Lance Armstrong underwent included BEP, but for the three remaining cycles, he was given an alternative, vinblastine etoposide, ifosfamide, and cisplatin, to avoid lung toxicity associated with bleomycin.

Lance Armstrong dropped out of the 1996 Tour after the fifth stage after becoming ill, a few months before his diagnosis.

Lance Armstrong then abandoned Europe with his fiance and returned to Texas where he contemplated retirement.

Not long after returning to the United States Lance Armstrong entered seclusion near Beech Mountain and Boone, North Carolina with former Tour de France rider Bob Roll as well as Chris Carmichael and trained in the Appalachian Mountains.

In May 1998 Lance Armstrong held his 2nd charity race for cancer research in Austin, Texas: The Race for the Roses.

Lance Armstrong then entered and won the Tour of Luxembourg.

Lance Armstrong beat the second place rider, Alex Zulle, by 7 minutes 37 seconds.

The race began a six-year rivalry between Ullrich and Lance Armstrong and ended in victory for Lance Armstrong by 6 minutes 2 seconds over Ullrich.

Lance Armstrong took one stage in the 2000 Tour, the second individual time trial on stage 19.

In 2001, Lance Armstrong again took top honors, beating Ullrich by 6 minutes 44 seconds.

In 2002, Ullrich did not participate due to suspension, and Lance Armstrong won by seven minutes over Joseba Beloki.

The pattern returned in 2003, Lance Armstrong taking first place and Ullrich second.

US Postal won the team time trial on stage 4 and on stage 9 Lance Armstrong nearly crashed out of the Tour while defending the yellow jersey.

Lance Armstrong was less than a minute ahead of Beloki and Alexander Vinokourov was on a solo attack threatening to overtake Armstrong in the standings.

Lance Armstrong narrowly avoided the same fate by reacting in time to avoid Beloki, but to do so he went off the road and ended up on a foot trail which led downhill through a field.

Lance Armstrong survived upright on his bike nearly to the end, at which time he picked it up and carried it the rest of the way to the road at the bottom of the hairpin turn, essentially losing no time as a result.

Lance Armstrong could have been fined or penalized for taking a shortcut, but it was deemed unintentional.

Lance Armstrong maintained a gap of only +0:21 over Vinokourov, but Ullrich was emerging as the most likely rider to overthrow Lance Armstrong.

In 2004, Lance Armstrong finished first, 6 minutes 19 seconds ahead of German Andreas Kloden.

Lance Armstrong won a personal-best five individual stages, plus the team time trial.

Lance Armstrong became the first biker since Gino Bartali in 1948 to win three consecutive mountain stages; 15,16, and 17.

Lance Armstrong won the final individual time trial, stage 19, to complete his personal record of stage wins.

In 2005, Lance Armstrong was beaten by American David Zabriskie in the stage 1 time trial by two seconds, despite having passed Ullrich on the road.

In 2005, Lance Armstrong announced he would retire after the 2005 Tour de France, citing his desire to spend more time with his family and his foundation.

Lance Armstrong announced on September 9,2008, that he would return to pro cycling with the express goal of participating in the 2009 Tour de France.

Australian ABC radio reported on September 24,2008, that Lance Armstrong would compete in the UCI Tour Down Under through Adelaide and surrounding areas in January 2009.

Lance Armstrong had to retire from the 2009 Vuelta a Castilla y Leon during the first stage after crashing in a rider pileup in Baltanas, Spain, and breaking his collarbone.

Lance Armstrong flew back to Austin, Texas, for corrective surgery, which was successful, and was back training on a bicycle within four days of his operation.

On July 7, in the fourth stage of the 2009 Tour de France, Lance Armstrong narrowly failed to win the yellow jersey after his Astana team won the team time trial.

Lance Armstrong finished the 2009 Tour de France on the podium in 3rd place.

On July 21,2009, Lance Armstrong announced that he would return to the Tour de France in 2010.

Lance Armstrong made his 2010 season debut at the Tour Down Under where he finished 25th out of the 127 riders who completed the race.

Lance Armstrong made his European season debut at the 2010 Vuelta a Murcia finishing in seventh place overall.

Lance Armstrong showed fine shape after recovering from the Tour of California crash, placing second in the Tour of Switzerland and third in the Tour of Luxembourg.

On June 28, Lance Armstrong announced via Twitter that the 2010 edition would be his final Tour de France.

Lance Armstrong put in an impressive performance in the Tour's prologue time trial, finishing fourth.

Lance Armstrong rallied for the brutal Pyrenean stage 16, working as a key player in a successful break that included teammate Chris Horner.

Lance Armstrong finished his last tour in 23rd place, 39 minutes 20 seconds behind former winner Alberto Contador.

Lance Armstrong was a key rider in helping Team RadioShack win the team competition, beating Caisse d'Epargne by 9 minutes, 15 seconds.

Lance Armstrong stated that after January 2011, he will race only in the US with the Radioshack domestic team.

Lance Armstrong announced his retirement from competitive cycling 'for good' on February 16,2011, while still facing a US federal investigation into doping allegations.

Lance Armstrong improved the support behind his well-funded teams, asking sponsors and suppliers to contribute and act as part of the team.

For much of his career, Lance Armstrong faced persistent allegations of doping.

Lance Armstrong denied all such allegations until January 2013, often claiming that he never had any positive test in the drug tests he has taken over his cycling career.

Lance Armstrong has been criticized for his disagreements with outspoken opponents of doping such as Paul Kimmage and Christophe Bassons.

Lance Armstrong asked Armstrong questions in relation to his "admiration for dopers" at a press conference at the Tour of California in 2009, provoking a scathing reaction from Armstrong.

Lance Armstrong continued to deny the use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs for four more years, describing himself as the most tested athlete in the world.

From his return to cycling in the fall of 2008 through March 2009, Lance Armstrong claimed to have submitted to 24 unannounced drug tests by various anti-doping authorities.

Lance Armstrong was criticized for working with controversial trainer Michele Ferrari.

Lance Armstrong said she would have known if Armstrong had saddle sores as she would have administered any treatment for it.

Anderson stated in a subsequent deposition that he had no direct knowledge of Lance Armstrong using a banned substance.

One, is that Lance Armstrong used EPO during the '99 Tour.

The other way it could've got in the urine was if, as Lance Armstrong seems to believe, the laboratory spiked those samples.

In June 2006, French newspaper Le Monde reported claims by Betsy and Frankie Andreu during a deposition that Lance Armstrong had admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs to his physician just after brain surgery in 1996.

Lance Armstrong issued a formal, public apology and agreed to pay SCA an undisclosed sum.

In June 2010, Lance Armstrong hired a criminal defense attorney to represent him in the investigation.

The hiring was first reported in July when Lance Armstrong was competing in the 2010 Tour de France.

In February 2013, a month after Lance Armstrong admitted to doping, the Justice Department joined Landis's whistleblower lawsuit to recover government funding given to Lance Armstrong's cycling team.

Lance Armstrong chose not to appeal the findings, saying it would not be worth the toll on his family.

Lance Armstrong received a lifetime ban from all sports that follow the World Anti-Doping Code.

Lance Armstrong refused to testify until and unless he received complete amnesty, which Cookson said was most unlikely to happen.

Lance Armstrong named people who had transported or acted as couriers, as well as people that were aware of his doping practices.

The Department of Justice accused Lance Armstrong of violating his contract with the USPS and committing fraud when he denied using performance-enhancing drugs.

In November 2013, Lance Armstrong settled a lawsuit with Acceptance Insurance Company.

The suit was settled for an undisclosed sum one day before Lance Armstrong was scheduled to give a deposition under oath.

Lance Armstrong owns homes in Austin, Texas, and Aspen, Colorado, as well as a ranch in the Texas Hill Country.

The pregnancies were made possible through sperm Lance Armstrong banked three years earlier, before chemotherapy and surgery.

Lance and Kristin Armstrong announced their divorce in 2003, the same year that Lance began dating singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow.

In July 2008, Lance Armstrong began dating Anna Hansen after meeting through Lance Armstrong's charity work.

In December 2008, Lance Armstrong announced that Hansen was pregnant with the couple's first child.

Also, in August 2005, Lance Armstrong said that he was no longer considering politics:.

Lance Armstrong was co-chair of a California campaign committee to pass the California Cancer Research Act, a ballot measure defeated by California voters on June 5,2012.

Lance Armstrong endorsed Democratic Congressman Beto O'Rourke against Republican incumbent Senator Ted Cruz in the 2018 election.

Lance Armstrong was the pace car driver of the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 for the 2006 Indianapolis 500.

Lance Armstrong addressed the riders the Friday evening before the two-day ride and helped the ride raise millions for cancer research.

Lance Armstrong ran the 2006 New York City Marathon with two friends.

Lance Armstrong assembled a pace team of Alberto Salazar, Joan Benoit Samuelson, and Hicham El Guerrouj to help him reach three hours.

Lance Armstrong finished in 2h 59m 36s, in 856th place.

Lance Armstrong said the race was extremely difficult compared to the Tour de France.

Lance Armstrong helped raise $600,000 for his LiveStrong campaign during the run.

Lance Armstrong ran the 2007 NYC Marathon in 2h 46m 43s, finishing 232nd.

Lance Armstrong made a return to triathlon in 2011 by competing in the off-road XTERRA Triathlon race series.

At the Championships Lance Armstrong led for a time before crashing out on the bike and finishing in 23rd place.

In July 2011 and July 2013, Lance Armstrong participated in the non-competitive Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa.

Lance Armstrong owns a coffee shop in downtown Austin, Texas, called "Juan Pelota Cafe".

In 2008, Lance Armstrong bought several million dollars of stock in the American bicycle component manufacturer SRAM Corporation, and has served as their technical advisor.

In 2009, Lance Armstrong invested $100,000 into venture capital firm Lowercase Capital, which subsequently bought an early stake in Uber, among other investments.

In 2019, Uber achieved an IPO of $82 billion and earned Lance Armstrong an estimated $20-$30 million.

In 2017, Lance Armstrong started a podcast named "The Move", which provided daily coverage of the Tour de France in 2018 and 2019.