Lance Armstrong has been out of the news for a while, so I was surprised when I saw he was on The Joe Rogan Podcast. One of the most interesting parts of the interview was when Armstrong shed light on an ongoing lawsuit that where the United States Postal Service hopes to regain sponsorship money that was paid to Armstrong while he rode for the team from 1996-2004 and was eventually wiped away from cycling by the Anti-Doping Agency in 2012. The lawsuit could cost him up to 100 million dollars, but Armstrong seemed confident that he would make it out okay:
“We believe they [US Postal Service] made hundreds of millions of dollars. And we know that they were also using the team as a sales vehicle, so during the Tour, bringing over potential new clients … They were actually converting new business to the Postal Service. And we know that happened, and we know that it equaled a significant increase in revenue. So we like our case”
“But it is what it is. The federal government is interested, the Department of Justice is interested in the case, and I have no choice but to fight it. After the dozen previous lawsuits, I’m not in a position to really cut any more checks, so I’m in a position where I have to fight this one out.”
The podcast is nearly two hours in total length, and I have no problems admitting how little I know about cycling, but in that time Armstrong does come off as more mature, remorseful, and if you can even go there, honest. Here is an excerpt from the podcast:
https://youtu.be/rEfSdPz1WtA