American cycling back to the summit after the dark years that followed the Lance Armstrong case

If they have not yet won on the Tour de France this year, American runners are among the best of their generation, despite the little interest in cycling in the United States, since the doping case involving Lance Armstrong.

His tunic in the colors of the American flag has not gone unnoticed since the start of the Tour de France. Champion of the United States, Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) is part of the very good generation of American runners, notably with Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease A Bike), Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease A Bike) or Neilson Powless (EF Education-Easypost). A generation that had to grow with the heavy heritage of the Lance Armstrong case, which has cooled the American interest in road cycling.

Three runners in the top 20 of the last Worlds, a tenth place in the UCI nations ranking in 2024 in front of the South American countries … No doubt, the United States reinstalls themselves among the best nations in the cycling landscape. “This position in the UCI ranking is clearly proof of our progress in recent years”welcomes Tanner Putt, national coach, who remembers the 26th place in the world only six years ago. If the number of American runners within the World Tour teams (world first division) is paradoxically rather decreased in recent years, current athletes have now have “The ability to win races, which is very exciting for us”continues the coach with Franceinfo: Sport.

The same goes for women, with only five American runners in the World Tour teams, but capable of winning the Olympic title, like Kristen Faulkner, or of being a double world trial champion, like Chloé Dygert.

In men, Sepp Kuss won the Vuelta in 2023, Matteo Jorgenson is the double defending winner of Paris-Nice, Neilson Powless won on the classic through Flanders in 2025 … “It has been a long time since we had been performing like this. There have been some good runners in recent years, but there has been a generational hole “Note, with Franceinfo: Sport, Quinn Simmons, who won a stage on the Tours de Catalonia and Switzerland this year. Between 2018 and 2020, no runner in the United States was in the world top 100 at the end of the season.

Would this generation have suffered from the repercussions of the Lance Armstrong case, who had admitted to having doped on television in 2013? “I think this case has had an impact, really, and that it always has one today. There is no more training equipped by Nike for example and the American sponsors are still distant”observes Magnus Sheffield, runner of Ineos Grenadiers. Thus, the number of US continental (third world) continental teams has decreased in recent years.

“There are fewer races in the United States today, which means that a company is less encouraged to sponsor because it is not ready to pay without receiving antenna or return marketing time. Before there were races like the Tour du Missouri, Georgia, California, Utah, Colorado, which all benefited from important television coverage, but this is no longer the case”regret Tanner Putt.

“Of course the Armstrong affair had an impact, but I think that American cycling would not have grown more without this affair, Tempere, with Franceinfo: Sport, Jonathan Vaughters, former teammate of the septuple deposed winner of the Tour de France, who is a repentant of doping and is engaged in the fight against this practice at the head of the EF Education-Easypost team. Today, runners are not so known in the United States, traditional media are not really interested in it. Result, the best known runner is Lachlan Morton (which is however Australian)which had done the entire route of the Tour de France by bike with bags in 2021. The Americans need a big champion, an iconic guy to take an interest in sport, and unless they win on the Tour de France, they will not make the headlines “.

Little recognized in their country, and with few structures or races to develop, American runners therefore go into exile in Europe to grow. “It is absolutely necessary for our runners to come and finish their training in Europe. To be known and recognized by recruiters of World Tour teams, but also to learn how to run”, says Tanner Putt. “On the few races in the United States, the platoons are small and on very wide roads, so they don't really learn to ride grouped. Then there are not many clubs. On the contrary, there are many Gravel practitioners, and I think that our next road champion will come from this discipline”avance Jonathan Vaughters.

Thus, Matteo Jorgenson, for example, arrived at the Training Center in Chambéry at the age of 19. “The course I borrowed, where I was running in the United States during the first part of the season, then in Europe in summer, is no longer possible”meanwhile, Neilson Powless in Franceinfo underlines: Sport. The American Federation has had a racing service in the Netherlands since 2012 (it had one in Belgium before since the early 2000s), where it organizes internships in the spring and summer for its promising runners. “We have good training roads, but we want to give them racing experience in Europe, it seems better for their development”assures the national coach Tanner Putt.

The American interest in cycling could appear again in the coming years if the rebirth project for a World Tour race in the United States is emerging. George Hincapie, former Armstrong Lance teammate at US Postal-Discovery Channel, also announced the creation of his team, “Modern Adventure Pro Cycling”, with the aim of making American talent hatch in a “American Dream Team”. But the past of Hincie, who admitted to having doped, as well as the presence of the Podcast of Lance Armstrong, “The Move”, among the partners of this new structure, could undermine the credibility of this training.