When cyclist Lance Armstrong announced in 2013 that he had used performance enhancing drugs to win his seven consecutive Tour de France titles, it shook the world. The scandal was so huge, it forced the athlete into a kind of pop culture exile, aided by his departure from his own foundation Livestrong. But, years later, just where is Lance Armstrong today? The cyclist has been keeping a low profile, but his doping scandal is about to get another turn in the spotlight thanks to the new Netflix documentary, Icarus.
Filmmaker and amateur cyclist Bryan Fogel was inspired to look into how easy it might be to pass drug tests as a cyclist taking performance-enhancement drugs after Armstrong came clean. "I had initially conceived this as a movie like Super Size Me, in which I'm the subject of this experiment to expose the failure of antidoping systems," Fogel explained to The New York Times. The film features footage of Armstrong racing and, later, admitting to doping in an interview. Yet while he's a key figure in the movie, Armstrong does not make an actual appearance. But that doesn't mean he's been hiding from the spotlight. In fact, the athlete has been slowly inching back into public life in the past two years, relaunching his own personal brand.
Armstrong has been focusing on getting into a new industry: podcasts. In 2016, the athlete launched his podcast "The Forward," in which he interviews various public figures he's gotten to know over the years including scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson and Rahm Emanuel. Just this summer, Armstrong launched another podcast, "Stages," which followed the 2017 Tour de France. The former professional athlete also launched WEDU Sport, which appears to be his overarching brand, though the exact nature of the company is a bit confusing. Through the company, Armstrong organized a 50-mile mountain bike ride event, called WEDU Aspen Fifty, something he hopes will become an annual event. The company's tag is "Solidarity for the Solitary," but to find out more about it, one has to sign up on their official website.
When he's not busy recording podcasts, Armstrong has been known to participate in charity races and various cycling events, and he recently got engaged to his longtime girlfriend Anna Hansen. Moreover, he made his return to the screen earlier this year, appearing as himself in HBO's mockumentary Tour de Pharmacy. In the film, Armstrong openly made fun of his own doping scandal. Who knows, maybe a tell-all documentary is in his future?
