“But I Couldn’t Race”: Falling Into a US Postal Service Squad, Lance Armstrong Recalls an Ugly Split With French Team

Lance Armstrong was once a reputed but is now an infamous retired professional road racing cyclist. In his elaborate career, Lance has reached the heights of success. But later, fallen from grace as a result of his own choices. He initially rose to fame in 1993 and continued to shine till 1996.

However, a piece of unforeseen news brought his career to an unexpected halt. But after recovering from that, he worked to take back his throne. He successfully did so in 1998 and gradually made his way back to the top. However, it didn’t last long this time around, either.

The fallout with the French team

Recently, Lance Armstrong appeared on the podcast episode of Joe Pompliano. In the exclusive talk with Pompliano, Armstrong opened up about the various phases of his life. From battling stage three testicular cancer to falling out with his French team but eventually ending up with the US Postal Service team. The road of Lance’s journey in life has been full of bumps.

JACO, COSTA RICA – NOVEMBER 01: Lance Armstrong of the United States competes in Day 1 of the La Ruta de Los Conquistadores on November 1, 2018 in Jaco, Costa Rica. La Ruta de Los Conquistadores is Costa Rica’s premier mountain bike race, and one of the most difficult races in the world. The race was started in 1993 by Roman Urbina. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

For the unversed, Lance Armstrong was diagnosed with stage three testicular cancer in October 1996. Gradually, the cancer spread to his lungs, abdomen, brain, and lymph nodes. This hampered his performance as a cyclist and was advised by the doctors to take a year off from the sport. This eventually led to his fallout with the French professional road bicycle racing team, Cofidis.

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Recalling the dark days, the cyclist said, “It was big for cycling at that time, with a French team but I couldn’t race. The doctors wanted me to take the year off and so it just led to a mess. They went on to the contract, I was not gonna race and so at the end of 1997 we just parted ways and I ended up on the postal service, which was a really complicated story.”

Lance Armstrong joined the U.S.P.S.

Following his split with the French team in 1997, Lance took some time off from the sport to focus on his health. After nursing himself back to good health, he made a comeback after a year. In 1998, Armstrong joined the U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team.

RODEZ, FRANCE – JULY 16: Lance Armstrong riding with Cure Leukaemia charity riders during stage thirteen of the One Day Ahead – Le Tour 2015 on July 16, 2015 in Rodez, France. (Photo by Sam Bagnall/Getty Images)

As the leader of the team, Lance led the team to great success. He also made on-air appearances on behalf of the team on Discovery Networks TV Channel. He was the official face of the team. From 1999 to 2005, Lance won seven Tours de France for the U.S. team. However, after his biggest controversy, the doping scandal, Lance was stripped of these titles.

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Despite the numerous ups and downs in his life, whenever Lance Armstrong fell, he stood right back up again.

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