Owen Vermeulen is one of the most honest voices on addiction and recovery in cycling — a South African gravel pro who went public with the full arc of teenage heroin use, a professional skateboarding career, opioid relapse after a sport-ending injury, and the five-year non-linear road back into endurance sport. His perspective matters because it cuts through the highlight-reel pro mythology and reframes addiction as a biological response, not a moral failing. For Roadman's audience — many of whom know someone, or are someone, navigating dependency — his story is one of the most useful ones the show has run.
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Where Vermeulen lands on the questions people ask most.