After the Festina scandal 1998 the 1999 Tour de France was supposed to be a new beginning for cycling, which was characterised by doping at the time. And with the winner Lance Armstrong, the sport did indeed gain a new figurehead: Armstrong, recovering from cancer, became the dominant figure in cycling from then on. From 1999 to 2005, he won the Tour de France seven times in a row. Armstrong's presence and status also covered up the doubts that already existed at the time - also because cycling could make good use of a global sports star like Armstrong at the time.
But what was seen as a new era in 1999 later turned out to be the biggest doping scandal in cycling history. The successes of Armstrong and his US Postal team were based on an extensive doping system. Investigations by the US Anti-Doping Agency USADA brought this to light in 2012. That Tour de France in 1999 was the beginning. An overview of how the riders from the US Postal team at the time have fared since then.
Lance Armstrong
If Armstrong has his way, the Texan may still see himself as the rightful winner of seven Tour de France victories. After all, he still has all seven yellow jerseys on display in his bike shop "Mellow Johnny's" in Austin. However, his name has been removed from the winners' lists for the years 1999 to 2005.
In 2009 and 2010, Armstrong made a two-year comeback, but it was not very successful. He then came under fire from the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), whose investigations saw more and more former team-mates implicate Armstrong. In 2012, charges were brought and in 2013 Armstrong confessed to doping in a TV interview with Oprah Winfrey: he had doped in all seven of his Tour victories. This was followed by the disqualification of his successes and a lifetime ban. The Texan also had to face numerous lawsuits from insurance companies and former partners, which brought him close to financial ruin.
In the meantime, however, Armstrong has built up a new successful existence. On the one hand, he earned his money as an investor, including backing the company Uber early on, and on the other, Armstrong founded the company WEDU in 2016, with which he entered the podcast business early on. The cycling format "The Move" in particular is still one of the most successful sports podcasts in the USA and has brought Armstrong many new brand partnerships.
Armstrong has thus also rehabilitated himself to some extent in cycling. Current greats such as Mark Cavendish and Geraint Thomas are now his guests. Armstrong also publicly supported his former rival Jan Ullrich during his difficult phases of drug and alcohol abuse.
Tyler Hamilton
The fact that the doping investigations against Armstrong gained momentum was due in particular to Hamilton, who confessed in 2011 and incriminated Armstrong and US Postal extensively. Hamilton acted as a key witness in the USADA's doping proceedings. He later published the book "The Secret Race", in which he summarised the doping practices of his career for the general public.
Hamilton himself was considered an important helper to Armstrong at US Postal from 1999 to 2001, before pursuing his own ambitions as captain of Team CSC and, from 2004, Phonak. In 2004, however, he was convicted of blood doping after his Olympic victory in the time trial in Athens and banned; he was later part of the doping scandal surrounding the Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes. His unsuccessful comeback ended in 2009 with another positive doping test.
Hamilton now works as a trainer and is head of financial communications at the Black Swift Group in Missoula. He no longer has anything to do with professional cycling.
George Hincapie
During his active career, the US American was the only rider to take part in all seven of Armstrong's Tour victories. And Hincapie remained a close confidant of Armstrong's afterwards. The two are now business partners and Hincapie is a regular co-host on "The Move" podcast.
As a rider, the now 51-year-old with his strong physique was an ideal helper and was active in the peloton until 2012, most recently for Team BMC. He took part in the Tour de France 17 times, which is only surpassed by Sylvain Chavanel (18 starts). In the course of the USADA investigation, Hincapie confessed to doping up to 2006 and also implicated Armstrong in his statements. He himself received a six-month ban and lost his Tour de France stage win from 2005.
Hincapie joined his brother Richard's sportswear company "Hincapie Sportswaear" in 1998 while still an active cyclist. Both also run the Hotel Domestique in Greenville. After the end of his career, Hincapie also established the popular sporting event "Gran Fondo Hincapie", which has now grown to five events a year in the USA.
Pascal Deramé
Looking back, the Frenchman is certainly the least well-known name in the US Postal squad at the time. Deramé joined the team in 1997 and was rewarded with a place in the Tour squad three times until 1999 thanks to his good support services. The now 54-year-old continued his career with the French team Bonjour until 2002.
He later played no role in the USADA doping revelations. After his career, Deramé took on the position of sports director at amateur team U Nantes in his native Brittany. He held this position until 2017. Today he is said to live in Nantes. However, not much is known about Deramé.
Jonathan Vaughters
Vaughters took part in the Tour de France for the 17th time this year with his EF Education EasyPost team. The 51-year-old is therefore the only member of the former US Postal squad who is still active in professional cycling today. Among other things, Vaughters was president of the team operators' association AIGCP from 2009 to 2013.
Vaughters is one of the most influential and innovative personalities among team bosses, particularly when it comes to the economics of professional cycling, partly because he himself had to save his team from collapse several times after sponsors withdrew.
The fact that Vaughters is accepted in the professional scene is also due to the fact that he became involved as an anti-doping activist after the end of his career in 2003. However, Vaughters only confessed to doping in 2012 and also incriminated Armstrong, who has since frequently expressed his disdainful opinion of Vaughters in public. Vaughters rode for US Postal for two years from 1998, and the 1999 Tour de France ended for him after a crash on stage 2.
In 2003, the American then founded the company Slipstream Sports, which is still the operator of his cycling team today. Part of the team's philosophy was to give convicted dopers a second chance - always on the premise that they had come clean. For example, David Millar rode for the team for many years after his doping ban. Vaughters published his biography "One Way Ticket" in 2020.
Christian Vande Velde
Vande Velde later joined Vaughters' team, where he achieved his greatest success as a professional, finishing fourth in the 2008 Tour de France. A year later, he finished eighth in the Tour of France.
In the course of the USADA investigation, Vande Velde confessed to his doping abuse in 2012 and was banned for six months. He then ended his career in 2013 after a number of crashes. The American signed his first professional contract with US Postal in 1998 and stayed until the end of 2003, twice, in 1999 and 2001, he was part of Armstrong's victorious Tour team.
Despite the doping confession, Vande Velde's career in cycling remained open. Since 2014, he has worked as a Tour de France pundit for the American TV channel NBC. He also took over the representation of American professional cyclists in the CPA riders' union and worked as a trainer on the virtual training platform Peloton. He returned to this role this year. In 2020, he also developed his own training app called "The Breakaway" with two former Strava employees.
Peter Meinert-Nielsen
At the age of 33, the Dane was the oldest rider in US Postal's Tour squad in 1999 and took part in his last Tour of France, which he did not finish after crashing on the 13th stage. After his last season with the Danish team Fakta in 2000, he took over the position of sporting director there until 2003.
He then turned his back on cycling completely for a few years and managed a luxury kitchen business in Denmark until 2016. In 2013, he took on the role of sports director at Team Blue Water for a year, and from 2014 he became involved with the DGI organisation, a non-governmental cycling association in Denmark, for which he advises amateur clubs and organises rides.
As a TV pundit, he follows professional cycling for the Danish branch of the Discovery TV channel. Meinert-Nielsen played no role in the revelations surrounding the USADA investigations.
Kevin Livingston
The US-American always rode alongside Armstrong in his earlier professional years, switching from Motorola to Cofidis in 1997 and also joining the US Postal team in 1999. At the Tour de France that year, he was one of Armstrong's most reliable helpers and continued to fulfil this role at the Tour in 2000.
The following year, he wanted to join Team Linda McCartney as captain, but the team disbanded. Livingston then ended up with Team Telekom - as a helper for Armstrong's great Tour rival Jan Ullrich. This switch led to a long-lasting rift between Livingston and Armstrong.
Livingston ended his career in 2002 at the age of just 29. He and Armstrong became close again in the years that followed. Livingston founded the Pedal Hard Company, which specialised in training advice, and took up residence in the offices of Armstrong's bike shop "Mellow Johnny's".
At times, Livingston also worked for the U23 team Trek-Livestrong and was involved in the organisation of US races such as the Tour of California and the Tour of Missouri. Livingston was convicted of doping during night tests for the 1998 Tour de France. He did not appear publicly in the USADA investigations.
Frankie Andreu
Once a close friend of Armstrong, Andreu soon became one of Armstrong's biggest enemies after his career ended in 2000. As early as 2006, Andreu and his wife Betsy testified in a court case that Armstrong confirmed to the doctors treating him in 1996 that he had taken doping substances during his cancer treatment.
Shortly afterwards, Andreu publicly admitted his own doping abuse since 1995, including in preparation for the 1999 Tour de France. In the USADA investigation, Andreu again implicated Armstrong as a witness in 2012.
From 2001, he worked as a reporter for American television at the Tour de France and other cycling races. As a second mainstay, he tried to establish himself as a sports director - but Andreu believed that his feud with Armstrong stood in the way of this endeavour. As a result, he initially worked for smaller US teams, for example for five years with Team Kenda Pro Cycling. The 58-year-old now runs his own company, Andreu Racing LLC, and appears as a commentator and presenter at various sporting events.
