Lance Armstrong explained the simple reality of how he was able to evade drug detection as he was winning one Tour de France after another.
The 52-year-old Armstrong appeared on Bill Maher’s “Club Random” podcast and opened up about the drug-testing process.
“I’m not trying to justify anything that I ever said as something I’d want to repeat again, but one of the lines was, ‘I’ve been tested 500 times, I’ve never failed a drug test,’” Armstrong said.
“That’s not a lie. That’s the truth. There was no way around the test. When I pissed in the cup and they tested the piss in the cup it passed.”
Armstrong won seven straight Tour de France races from 1999 through 2005, but the titles were stripped of him when his performance enhancing drug use was uncovered.
For years, he repeatedly denied having used performance enhancing drugs, and sought to discredit anyone who alleged that he did.
As he told Maher, the “rocket fuel” was EPO, a substance which stimulates red blood cell production, and, crucially, exits the system quickly.
“The truth of all of this is some of these substances, primarily the one that is the most beneficial, has a four-hour half life,” Armstrong explained.
“So, certain substances, whether it be cannabis or anabolics [steroids] or whatever have much longer half lives. You can smoke that joint and go to work, driving your tractor, or whatever, in two weeks and test positive because the half life is much longer.
“With EPO, which was the rocket fuel that changed not just our sport but every endurance sport, you have a four-hour half life. So, it leaves the body very quickly. And with a four-hour half-life you can just do the math.”
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