How do you spend your Sunday pleasure ride? Do you go have fun alone or do you randomly get accompanied by a disgraced former seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong? Well this is what happened to F1 Star Valtteri Bottas.
Valtteri Bottas is one of the most beloved racers out there, he has won more than 10 Formula 1 races and even came second in the overall championship. This shows that he is no mere rider, he is skilled and holds true potential. Do you know how he spent his Sunday afternoon? He was out in Colorado, enjoying rides with Lance Armstrong.
After being exposed by the USADA Reasoned Decision for excessive doping which was ten years ago, Armstrong joined Valtteri for pleasure rides on the roads around Aspen and the reactions to that are a bit conflicted. The reactions are definitely mixed with people criticizing the F1 star for riding with Lance Armstrong, calling the Texan a “Bully”.
Out with the locals 🚲 pic.twitter.com/XOyfcvFpIh
— Valtteri Bottas (@ValtteriBottas) May 15, 2022
Valtteri Bottas and Lance Armstrong were joined in by Tiffany Cromwell the current Canyon-SRAM rider. The duo faced criticism because in the realm of cycling, Lance Armstrong is still considered a persona non grata, the people have not accepted him even after all those years.
Lance Armstrong may be banned from the realm of sports, but that does not stop him from giving opinions, which he regularly does on his podcast THEMOVE. On the podcast we often see Armstrong’s former DS Johan Bruyneel who was also banned due to his supporting role in the doping scandals. This again attracts a lot of controversy.
Even though their sport is different, the respect is always there. Bottas is known to be a very big fan of cycling. Speaking with Cycling Weekly, Bottas said:
Adding in different sorts of training is important to me, and something that I need because the F1 circus is so hectic and it’s nonstop. It’s the driving part and the testing and the visits to the factory and all the sponsor days and that kind of thing that people don’t see.
Whether this team-up was just for one win or was something else entirely has captured a lot of attention, and it is mixed. Some people have even warned the F1 racer to be vary of Armstrong, saying: “I would be careful about taking training advice from him.”
Bottas currently finished at the seventh position in the Miami Grand Prix. His experience was great and now he aims to go even further. Will he take advice from Armstrong or was it just a one-time gig?
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Featured Image Via Instagram/valtteribottas
