Lance Armstrong still clocking big training miles despite lifetime ban

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Lawson Craddock (Cannondale-Drapac) and fellow Texan Lance Armstrong shared a bike ride this weekend in Austin, the 45-year-old former pro said Sunday evening via social media.

Armstrong has been banned from competitive cycling since 2012, but the former Tour de France contender – whose seven Tour titles have since been stripped – appears to still be in good riding shape. The pair rode 185 kilometers over the course of just under six hours.

Both Americans posted the ride to Strava, and Armstrong posted a video to Instagram making note of the chilly conditions, while also making a punning reference to his endurance events company WEDU Sport.

Craddock grew up in Houston, Texas and was already grabbing the attention of Armstrong and others on the American cycling scene by age 18, when he won the 2010 junior national titles in the time trial, road race and criterium in Bend, Oregon.

Armstrong has since revealed his doping past and received his ban from the sport.

Craddock is not the only active American on the WorldTour to have trained with Armstrong in recent years. BMC's Tejay van Garderen faced questions in 2014 when it was revealed that Lance Armstrong had been motor-pacing van Garderen in training rides.

"I kind of expected to hear a little bit about it," van Garderen told media at the time. "But I mean, at the end of the day I just felt that it wasn't really fair that we can go to George Hincapie's gran fondo, we accept that Christian Vande Velde can be our commentator, I give interviews to Frankie Andreu, but Lance is the evil guy, and I just don't see how there can be that double standard."