The first part of the new two-part series of ESPN’s documentary on Lance Armstrong is now available to stream online.
Titled ‘Lance’, the first part is a lengthy and very
comprehensive 1hr 40minutes, following Armstrong’s life from childhood to his
first Tour de France win in 1999, which he has since been stripped of for
doping.
If you want to watch the first part, follow this link and register. ESPN charges €11.99 per month for access to its player but there’s a free seven-day trial.
That means if you register today and watch the first part of the documentary you will not be charged if you unsubscribe before your seven-day trial is over.
The second part of the documentary is not available to watch until June 1st.
The first part traces Armstrong from childhood as he tries out a series of sports he was not good at, including American football, soccer and baseball.
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It features archive footage and photos as well as
interviews with family members, Armstrong’s first coach and his team mates and
rivals in pro cycling including Ivan Basso, Tyler Hamilton, Jonathan Vaughters,
Bobby Julich and others.
There are also interviews with his former agent, former business manager, childhood friends and other figures in the cycling world.
After trying out several sports, and at the encouragement
of his mother, Armstrong joined a swim team aged 12 years but initially couldn’t
swim so had to learn “with the 6-year-olds”.
By the time he was aged 15 years he competed in a
triathlon against the pros and led the race for some of the way, garnering much
of the media attention and starting his route to international stardom.
The documentary also explores his family background in
depicting his father, Eddie Gunderson, as someone he had not interest in and
who left Armstrong and his mother soon after she gave birth aged 17 years.
The relationship, Armstrong’s mother Linda says, was an abusive
one and she moved on from it for the good of herself and her child, later
marrying Terry Armstrong, who adopted his new wife’s son when he was 3 years
old.
However, the relationship between new father and son was
not very happy; Terry Armstrong admitting he was a “task master” who “failed” in
parenting.
But Terry Armstrong credits his tough approach to discipline with making Lance Armstrong a champion saying: “I drove him like an animal.” He added it was a case of “too much win at all cost”.
Terry Armstrong split from his wife when Lance Armstrong
was about 15 years old, though the future pro cyclist never changed his name.
He explained he felt ‘Lance Gunderson’ would be a “weird name” and he preferred
Armstrong.
Rick Crawford, Armstrong’s first triathlon coach, said he
could see Armstrong’s bullying personality from the very outset, adding he had
not respect for other people’s property and was “mouthy” when he was asked
about it.
Bobby Julich said when he first met Armstrong aged 17
years at a US training camp, they were paired for a two-up training TT and Armstrong
was far superior.
After their effort, he shouted at Julich: “Come on your
fucking pussy, let’s keep going, I’m not done yet”.
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In 1990 Armstrong got his first contract in pro cycling
with the Subaru Montgomery team on $18,000 per year, at a time when his rent
was $300 per month, before making $24,000 per year the following year, saying
he was “loaded and saving money”.
In his third year in the pro ranks he joined Motorola saying: “And then we were off to the races, no pun intended”. He’d make up rivalries in his mind – “get my hate on” – to motivate himself and began with drugs in his first professional season with Motorola.
However, he said it was “low octane” substances at first
and when EPO abuse began he and his team did not use it. But in the winter of
1995 he went to see Michele Ferrari, after an introduction by Eddy Merckx, and
began training under him.
That relationship was “highly confidential”, Armstrong adding “what he said, I did”, which included blood doping.
Vaughters, a former team mate of Armstrong and now boss
at EF Pro Cycling, said initially Armstrong complained of an “EPO epidemic” and
he wanted those using it to be caught.
But by 1996 he said Armstrong looked like a completely
different athlete, was “no longer upset about people doping” and was enjoying
very good form and securing frequent top results.
Later that year Armstrong would abandon the Tour and was
eventually diagnosed with testicular cancer; only acting on pain in his
testicle after he began coughing blood.
He was already riddled with cancer by that point, to the
extent he was scheduled for surgery the morning after first going to the
doctors and being diagnosed.
Asked on film if he felt his doping caused his cancer, he
said he wasn’t sure but would not rule it out. That 1996 season was the only
time, he claims, he ever used human growth hormone and it made some sense to
him that perhaps that drug was related to his tumours growing.
He recalls how after he underwent cancer surgery and
other treatments, none of the teams he contacted apart from US Postal Service
wanted to hire him.
“It wasn’t my first choice but it was the only choice I
had,” he said of securing a place with the team a little over one year after he
announced in October, 1996, he had cancer. While his salary was poor, he also
had a clause in his deal earning him $1,000 for every UCI point he earned.
He explained, in interviews done in the current era, he
had no qualms about taking EPO because once taken in controlled circumstances “EPO
is a safe drug”.
Interview footage shot in early 1998 sees Armstrong
saying he was unsure if he would ever ride the Tour de France again after
coming back from cancer, but it was possible that may happen in 1999.
However, he was 4th in the Vuelta in 1998 and went on to
start the 1999 Tour de France and win; the point at which the first part of the
two-part series ends.
Armstrong says though dope testing on the 1999 Tour showed traces of cortisone, once UCI president Hein Verbruggen heard the excuse being put forward that the substance was in a cream Armstrong was using for saddle sores, he was satisfied to let the matter go.
During that section of the filming he made a gesture mimicking washing his hands; implying Verbruggen was glad to wash his hands of it once Armstrong had an excuse.
That excuse, to cover the fact he was doping and that the test had caught him, was backed by a TUE drawn up and backdated to make the excuse valid and ensure Armstrong could avoid being caught taking drugs.
From an Irish perspective, the opening part features
interviews with form UCI president Pat McQuaid, Armstrong’s former soigneur
Emma O’Reilly and journalist David Walsh.
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