"Armstrong, on the other hand, was a cyclist competing at elite levels during an era in which doping was rampant. And in such a setting, it does at least arguably matter that “everybody does it.” It is an unfortunate fact that in the world Armstrong competed in, for every individual cyclist doping was a necessary evil, a way of keeping the playing field level. Any cyclist not engaging in doping was effectively relegating himself to the back of the pack. That’s not an excuse, but it’s an accurate description of the facts of the case. So doping was, in a sense, non-optional for the elite cyclist trying to do his job properly, because after all his job is to try to win." - https://archive.canadianbusiness.com/blogs-and-comment/lance...