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ESPN 30 for 30: “LANCE” – Review – We Are Movie Geeks

Review

ESPN 30 for 30: “LANCE” – Review

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“If you believe in miracles, if you believe in fairytales, then you believe in Lance Armstrong.”- Phil Liggett

The sport of professional cycling has always been, for all intents and purposes, a “European” sport. Races with names like the Vuelta Espana, Giro d’Italia, Tour de Suisse, and the grand poobah of them all, Le Tour de France, have been around for 100 years.

In Europe. Watched by Europeans.

But that all changed in 1993 when a young American from Plano, Texas named Lance Armstrong won a stage in the Tour de France. Armstrong wasn’t the first American to have success in European cycling. Greg LeMond blazed the path before him, being the first American to win the prestigious race in 1986, going on to win it two more times in 1989 and 1990.  But LeMond didn’t spark the same excitement and influx of American fans to the sport the way that Armstrong did.

Lance Armstrong began cycling at a young age, and by the time he was 21, had turned professional. He had found success in many of the stages of the European races, and was on the radar of American fans. Diagnosed in 1996 at age 25 with advanced testicular cancer that had spread to his brain, lungs, lymph nodes and abdomen, it didn’t look good for his life, never mind his cycling career. But Armstrong fought, came back from the grim diagnosis, and miraculously resumed his cycling career. And this is what caught the imagination of American fans – that someone could make this kind of recovery and then go on to win the Tour de France, arguably one of the most difficult events in all of sports – just two short years later in 1999, his first of seven consecutive wins. Americans turned up in droves in Paris each of the years he raced, waving both American and Texas flags, in support of the new American hero.

And then there was Livestrong – the foundation started by Armstrong to help people navigate the healthcare system when it comes to cancer treatment and support. A foundation that raised nearly half a BILLION dollars and helped thousands and thousands of people worldwide. Lance Armstrong was invincible and it seemed there wasn’t anything he couldn’t do.

By now, everyone knows the monumental fall from grace and complete implosion of Armstrong’s career when, in 2012,  he was found guilty of cheating, or “doping,” during his cycling career, eventually being stripped of all seven Tour de France titles, and being banned from the sport for life.

In ESPN’s new 30 for 30 two-part documentary “Lance,” we finally get to see what has happened since 2012 and where Lance Armstrong is today. We also get to hear, in his own words, exactly what happened and the apologies it has taken so long for many of the people whose lives were ruined by the actions of Armstrong to finally get.

While there have been subsequent interviews since the implosion, most notably the Oprah interview, “Lance” shows a more humble, apologetic, honest and sincere Lance Armstrong. The film is peppered with interviews with everyone involved in Lance’s world during those years of doping and success, from former teammates and officials, to the whistleblowers and avowed enemies of Armstrong. And they all provide an amazing insight into what was the culture of professional cycling in those days, as well as the sometimes devastating outcome it held for some of them, in particular, fellow American cyclist, teammate, and head-whistleblower Floyd Landis (Landis was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title for use of a banned substance), who was completely blacklisted from professional cycling, when other guilty riders were welcomed back with open arms. In one of the more heartbreaking interviews of the film, Landis talks about his life still being in ruins to this day, and for him, forgiveness of Lance Armstrong will never come.

At first glimpse, it seems like there are two camps – those who hate Lance Armstrong and those who don’t and are willing to forgive, or at least try to understand. But as a lifelong cycling fan because of Lance Armstrong, I was somewhere in the middle. I never hated Armstrong for what he did, but like many, I was so disappointed and devastated because I believed him for all those years. I believed the denials, and worse, defended Armstrong in many an argument with friends and family. Like many, I chose to believe that if “everyone is doing it,” how is it cheating, as the playing field is even? That was the easy part to reconcile. What wasn’t easy to reconcile is the way that Armstrong treated people. The bullying, the lawsuits, the threats, the lies – and Armstrong makes no excuses, saying “I was a f**ing asshole.”

If nothing else, Lance Armstrong is an extremely complicated human being with many layers to dig through. Director Marina Zenovich does a pretty thorough job of digging through those layers by letting everyone involved speak their own truth. And in that truth, there are glimmers of forgiveness, reconciliation and finally a coming to peace. When asked if, looking back, he would have done anything different if he had it all to do over again, Armstrong takes perhaps the less popular route and says no, because all of that was necessary to get him from there to the person he is today.

LANCE airs in two parts, Sunday, May 24th and Sunday, May 31st on ESPN.

4 out of 4 stars