I was at a friend’s house recently when I spotted it. An old Wheaties cereal box on display in the kitchen. The orange box had faded edges. Its heavy, whole grain contents long past the expiration date. The reason it had been saved for so long —23 years and counting, in fact— is because it’s become a bit of a collector’s item. The box’s chosen champion, wearing the yellow Tour de France jersey and depicted in blurred motion, is Lance Armstrong.
To support its famous “Breakfast of Champions” slogan, General Mills has been featuring American athletes on the Wheaties packaging since 1937. And over the years, this tradition has become a bit of an indicator of an athlete’s stature in American culture. The likes of Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Michael Phelps, Simone Biles and Serena Williams have all been featured.
In 1999, after winning his first Tour de France yellow jersey, Armstrong was the first, and ‘till this day the only, American cyclist to grace the cereal box packaging. He would of course be stripped of this achievement along with all his other Tour de France wins in 2012, but the Wheaties box and, alarmingly, the cereal lives on.
(Irish cyclist Alan McCormack, American Doug Smith and their teammates from the Wheaties-Schwinn team did precede Armstrong when their likenesses appeared on the cereal box in the 1980s, but that was to showcase the sponsored team not necessarily in recognition of individual achievements.)
Since Armstrong’s infamous Oprah Winfrey interview in 2013 that disgraced the American hero forever, road cycling has been on a steady decline in the United States.
Participation at amateur and elite events across the country are dwindling, and international races like the Colorado Classic, the Tour of California and the Tour of Utah have all folded due to lack of financial support.
Only four UCI races remain and they barely reach beyond the local newspapers, let alone offer enough incentive for international stars to come and cross the waters. And without a superhero to get behind, American sports fans pay little attention to what happens abroad, even if young American talent is netting stage wins.
It seems that for cycling another Wheaties moment is a long way off. Or is it?
In search of a Wheaties Box Moment
Back in 2017 when the interest in gravel riding was really taking off, the hashtag #roadisdead started trending, and the bike industry was sitting on thousands of unsold rim…