Fallen cycling star Lance Armstrong admitted in a documentary on the American chain ESPN that he started doping "probably at the age of 21", that is to say at the beginning of his professional career. "Wow, it starts strong, I was probably 21 years old," replied Armstrong to the journalist Marina Zenovich, who asked her when was her first doping experience.
"I always knew what was in the injections and it was always me who made the decision"
The exchange appears in a 90-second trailer, released Monday, for a two-part documentary called "Lance" which will be broadcast by ESPN in the United States on May 24 and 31. In this trailer, where several former Armstrong teammates at US Postal like Tyler Hamilton and George Hincapie, answer the same question about their first doping experience, the Texan, now 48 years old, specifies that he there are "several ways to define doping".
"The easiest way is to say that you don't follow the rules. Did we get vitamin injections and things like that before (being 21)? Yes, but It was not illegal, I always asked what was given to me? I always knew what was in the injections and it was always me who made the decision, "he said. he explains. "Nobody ever said to me 'Don't ask a question, we give you that and that's it'. I would never have accepted that. I inquired, it was a step on my part", a pointed out Armstrong.
A shadow over his world title
The American who made the law on professional cycling in the 2000s, won seven consecutive editions of the Tour de France from 1999 to 2005. But the former leader of the US Postal and Discovery Channel teams was dispossessed of his victories after having received a life suspension in 2012 following an investigation opened by the American Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) which established that he was at the head of the "most sophisticated, professional and doping system most effective in the history of sport. "
In 2013, he admitted to having doped from 1996 in a very followed interview granted to the American television star Oprah Winfrey. If he started doping at 21, so in 1992 or 1993, it could cast a shadow on his world title won in 1993 in Oslo.