THEFORMERCYCLISTWANTSYOUTO
FORGETABOUTTHEDOPINGANDFOCUS ON
HISPODCAST.BYMAXCHAFKIN
PHOTOGRAPHS BYCAROLINETOMPKINS
LANCE ARMSTRONG CHASES REDEMPTION
August5, 2019Thethemeoflastyear’sGlobalVolatilitySummitinNewYork
wasa carnival.Attendeesattheannualconference,putonby
thehedgefundCapstoneInvestmentAdvisors,weretreated
totalksandpanelsonquantitativeinvestingandtheimpact
ofthetradewar.Therewerediversionssuchasthe“VIX
Rollercoaster,”“theWheelofTaxMisfortune,”and“Policy
SkeeBall.”Also,LanceArmstrongshowedup.“Thatlastcon-
versationwasamazing,”the47-year-oldformercyclistsaid
ashesettledintoa chaironthestageatManhattan’sChelsea
Piers,referringtoa six-personpaneldiscussionontailhedge
strategies.“Iunderstoodeverything.”
Self-deprecatinghumordoesn’tcomeeasilytoArmstrong.
Perpetuallystone-facedandquicktoanger,hewasknown
duringhisprofessionalcyclingcareerasa heroicsurvivorof
late-stagetesticularcancerwhowentontowintheTourde
France,cycling’sbiggestevent,a recordseventimes.Hewas
also,ofcourse,a cheater—theleaderofa teamthat,accord-
ingtotheU.S.Anti-DopingAgency,“ranthemostsophisti-
cated,professionalized,andsuccessfuldopingprogramthat
sporthaseverseen.”Armstrongdisputesthathisdopingwas
unprecedented—itwaspartofa largercultureofdopingin
cycling,he’slongargued—butnotthathecheatednorthathe
crossedethicallinesinhisattemptstosilencecritics.
Formerteammatesturnedonhim,andhefinallyadmit-
tedtotakingdrugsina 2013interviewwithOprahWinfrey.
Armstrongwasstrippedofhiscyclingtitlesanddropped
byNikeInc.,hislongtimesponsor.Hiscancerfoundation,
Livestrong—whichhadworkedwiththeapparelgianttoturn
yellowwristbandsintoa globalvirtuesignal—cuttieswith
him.(Thecharityhascontinuedtooperate,butina dimin-
ished,Lance-freeform.)TheU.S.PostalServicehadsponsored
Armstrong’steamduringthegloryyears;in 2013 thefederal
governmentjoineda fraudlawsuitagainstArmstrongandthe
U.S.Postalteammanager,JohanBruyneel,seekingtorecover
$100millionindamages.
In2016,withthetriallooming,Armstrongdevisedan
ambitiousplantoun-disgracehimself.Bannedfromprofes-
sionalcyclingraces,hecreatedandstartedridinginhisown
unsanctionedcyclingevents.Unabletolanda broadcasting
gig,hestarteda podcastandcoveredtheTourdeFrancehim-
self.Droppedbythesponsorswho’dpaidhimabout$20mil-
lion a year to promote their wares—and then sued him forfraud—he began selling his own cycling gear under a new
brand, Wedu.
Amazingly, given the depth of Armstrong’s disgrace, his
planseemstobeworking.Hispodcast,TheMove, wasnear
thetopofApple’spodcastchartsduringtheTourdeFrancein
July.It wasNo.3 amongsportsshowsasofJuly19, just ahead
of Bill Simmons’s show and all of ESPN’s podcasts.
A podcast might seem an unlikely vehicle for a business
comeback, especially since Armstrong himself is an amateur-
ish broadcaster, sometimes forgetting or badly mispronounc-
ing the names of riders and French towns, sometimes going off
onwildtangents.Butit’s2019,andpodcastsareanincreasingly
influentialmedium,mintingcelebrities,capturinga growing
shareoftheradioaudience—about 90 million Americans listen
to at least one each month, according to Edison Research—and
sending listeners and advertising dollars to other platforms.
Armstrong’s podcasts, like many popular radio shows these
days, also appear in video form on YouTube, where they can
attracthundredsofthousandsofviewers.
Ineachofthepasttwoyears,TheMovegeneratedsome-
wherearound$1million in revenue during the three-week
Tour de France through an advertising partnership with Patrón
tequila and a half-dozen smaller sponsors.
Armstrong’s speaking requests are coming back, too, even
if they’re a little outside his comfort zone. I’d been invited
to the New York conference by his longtime manager, Mark
Higgins, who said it would give me a chance to see this new
side of Lance. Onstage, with 300 or so finance types staring at
him, he looked uneasy, and he became visibly irritated when
the interviewer, Ryan Holiday, the author of Trust Me, I’m Lying
and Ego Is the Enemy, asked him to give advice to finance pro-
fessionals based on his past dealings with the government.
Armstrong grimaced, but he played along. If you’re guilty,
he said, avoid emphatic denials. “If I’d just doped to win a bike
race, like 200 other guys did in the same bike race, we wouldn’t
be sitting here right now,” he said. “But those 199 other guys
didn’t get up in front of the world and take everything on, and
be litigious, and, to be honest, be a total prick.”
Armstrong’sfinalreckoningwithhispastbehaviorcamethe
followingmonth,whenheandtheU.S.governmentreached
a $5million settlement. The comparatively small penalty was
seen as a victory. Armstrong seems to agree. “They wanted a
hundred,” he tells me. “And they left with five.”
Withthelawsuitsquarelyinthe rearviewmirror,he
announcedhewasstartinga venturecapitaloutfit,Next
Ventures,whichhasraisedabout$25millionofa planned
$75million, according to a July Securities and Exchange
Commission filing. Investments
include a stake in Spar Technology
Corp., which makes an iPhone app
that allows users to compete in physi-
cal challenges against their friends for
money, and PowerDot, a $200 “recov-
ery and performance” device that
stimulates muscles with electrical47