Valtteri Bottas cycling with a seven-time champion draws fans' ire
When Valtteri Bottas is not hurtling down the race track at over 200 mph, he prefers to take it slow by going out cycling. The Alfa Romeo driver has been seen multiple times on social media pedaling out with his partner Tiffany Cromwell, who is a road and gravel cyclist. This time around, the Finn went cycling with former seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong.
Out with the locals π² https://t.co/XOyfcvFpIh
Bottas shared a picture where he covered as many as 105 km on a biking trip with Armstrong. What followed was shock and awe across social media for the Finnish driver's association with the disgraced cycling legend of his time.
One of the tweets read:
βOf all the people to go cycling with ππβ
@ValtteriBottas @lancearmstrong Of all the people to go cycling with ππ
As his followers expressed their disappointment further, another tweeted:
βValteri, I see youβre teaming up with another 7 time cham... Oh no, thatβs not right is it!β
@ValtteriBottas @lancearmstrong Valteri, I see you're teaming up with another 7 time cham... Oh no, that's not right is it!
One enraged fan even commented, writing:
βI would be careful about taking training advice from him.β
@ValtteriBottas @lancearmstrong I would be careful about taking training advice from him.
Why such outrage over Valtteri Bottas cycling with Lance Armstrong?
The reason behind such massive outrage over Valtteri Bottas meeting Lance Armstrong has to do with the history of the former cyclist. Armstrong was the winner of the Tour de France seven times in his career but had a rather infamous fall from grace.
The American was a world-famous celebrity at the height of his popularity. He was one of the highest-paid sportspeople in the world as a cyclist and could be called the reason why the sport had become mainstream. Armstrong reached global fame after his battle with testicular cancer and his remarkable ability to win it and return to cycling by winning the Tour de France.
... is after Lance Armstrong was stripped of his Tour de France wins due to doping, many of his races were declared without winners (1999-2005).
Six of the seven runners-up to Lance in these years (all except Joseba in 2002) were caught for doping offences...! https://t.co/6VA6VKV8wz
While everything appeared to be going well, Armstrong was later exposed to being involved in a doping scandal. In a televised interview with Oprah Winfrey, Armstrong publicly admitted his use of Performance Enhancement Drugs (PEDs) throughout his career. He was subsequently stripped of his Tour de France titles.
The infamy still haunts the former American cyclist even though it was later revealed that the entire sport of cycling was plagued with PEDs. Consequently, Bottas meeting up with Armstrong rubbed the fans the wrong way and left them infuriated.
In the eyes of the Finn, Armstrong might be a legend of his sport in his own right. It's hard to argue if Bottas met yet another seven-time champion to gain inspiration.