Lance Armstrong stripped of Tour de France medals

Last Updated 10:22 a.m. ET

GENEVA American cyclist Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life by cycling's governing body Monday following a report from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that accused him of leading a massive doping program on his teams.

Cycling's governing body agreed Monday to stripping Armstrong of his Tour de France titles, following a report from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that accused him of leading a massive doping program on his teams.

Paris, France: US Lance Armstrong (yellow jersey) rides with teammates from the Discovery Channel team during the 21st stage of the 92nd Tour de France cycling race between Corbeil-Essonnes and the Champs-Elysees in Paris, 24 July 2005.

/ JOEL SAGET

UCI President Pat McQuaid announced that the federation accepted the USADA's report on Armstrong and would not appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

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Lance Armstrong stripped of Tour de France titles

The decision cleared the way for Tour de France organizers to officially remove Armstrong's name from the record books, erasing his consecutive victories from 1999-2005.

In Paris, Tour director Christian Prudhomme said at a news conference he no longer considers Armstrong the seven-time champion of the race. Prudhomme called UCI's decision "totally logical" and said "Lance Armstrong is no longer the winner of the Tour de France from 1999-2005."

Prudhomme has said the race would go along with whatever cycling's governing body decided, and will have no official winners for those years.

USADA said Armstrong should be banned and stripped of his Tour titles for "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen" within his U.S. Postal Service and Discovery Channel teams.

The USADA report said Armstrong and his teams used steroids, the blood booster EPO and blood transfusions. The report included statements from 11 former teammates who testified against Armstrong.

Armstrong denies doping, saying he passed hundreds of drug tests. But he chose not to fight USADA in one of the agency's arbitration hearings, arguing the process was biased against him. Former Armstrong team director Johan Bruyneel is also facing doping charges, but he is challenging the USADA case in arbitration.

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On Sunday, Armstrong greeted about 4,300 cyclists at his Livestrong charity's fundraiser bike ride in Texas, telling the crowd he's faced a "very difficult" few weeks.

"I've been better, but I've also been worse," Armstrong, a cancer survivor, told the crowd.

While drug use allegations have followed the 41-year-old Armstrong throughout much of his career, the USADA report has badly damaged his reputation. Longtime sponsors Nike, Trek Bicycles and Anheuser-Busch have dropped him, as have other companies, and Armstrong also stepped down last week as chairman of Livestrong, the cancer awareness charity he founded 15 years ago after surviving testicular cancer which spread to his lungs and brain.

Armstrong's astonishing return from life-threatening illness to the summit of cycling offered an inspirational story that transcended the sport. However, his downfall has ended "one of the most sordid chapters in sports history," USADA said in its 200-page report published two weeks ago.

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[mrchillydog]

I always had a feeling about that. How can any athlete stay on top like that for so long without assistance in that sport that is so demanding on the body. I wonder how he would have done without the drugs. Unfortunate that they all did that at the time not just him. So nobody is the champ during those years.

[BradZane2012]

It's funny, in a sad pathetic way, that the media and the sports world goes after ONLY certain people. Some professional athletes get a pass and others simply do NOT. If baseball went after Barry Bonds just a tenth of what the cycling world went after Lance Armstrong, Hank Aaron would still be the "legitimate" home run king. Lance was grilled, treated unfairly and was held to every standard known to man. Lance was made an example out of. While Barry collected millions and got a parade. Bonds was allowed to continue to smash home runs without any thought to facing any investigations or charges for taking steroids. Which everyone with a third grade level of intelligence, knew that Bonds was as guilty as he was a colossal a***hole. But Bonds continued chasing the record and no one in baseball or in the media would go after him. His trainer, Greg Anderson, went to prison for Bonds so he could keep hitting home runs. How many trainers do you know goes to prison for a "client?" None...no one goes to prison for a client, unless they are getting PAID. Just like it's acceptable for our beloved NFL and NBA ballplayers to spend more time in jail and court than on the playing their chosen sport. But Tim Tebow gets grilled and persecuted for praying and openly claiming his religion. Apparently it's okay to be a criminal athlete facing serious legal charges than it is for a white "never gets in trouble, ever" quarterback who openly loves his religion. I always grew up thinking church was where you should spend your weekends versus jail. How many athletes today spend more time in jail than church? I'm sure the agents and criminal attorneys drive by these churches on their way to bail their drunk high hungover athlete clients from jail after a night of poplin bottles and dropping tens of thousands at the local gentlemen's club. An when these NFL and NBA players blow through their millions like Charlie Sheen goes through his coke and strippers, they will just ban together and have another lock out so they can get more money from the owners who actually work for a living. These pro ballplayers live in suspended adult hood. Their lives and responsibility level hasn't changed since they were fifteen years old. They play a little kids game and take grown men's hard earned money. An everyone ponders over why today's youth has so many issues and struggles. Just look at our role models and celebrities that our kids have to look up to. Where is Michael Jordan and Joe Montana when we need them. These days it's gang members and drug dealers with NFL and NBA contracts. An let's start on the Hip Hop business. Sports fans today generally do NOT care as long as their favorite players make plays and win games.

Sports fans today loves dem sum ballplayers...

[missssy]

Bradzane, your post is too long, with no paragraph breaks. None of us have the attention span to read anything that long, sorry. Keep it brief and bulletized.

[Ulgnud]

The problem I have is how long this went on without being caught. These people are tested regularly for these substances. I am not a fan of cycling. I simply find it suspicious that this went on for 7 years without being discovered. 1 or 2 years, maybe. Not 7 years. Something is not right here.

[ellensmithee]

OH, YEAH! Take those medals away from that FILTHY cheater!
He's done much to help America be considered the dirtiest cheating nation on Earth. I, for one American, are darned happy to dump one of the MANY cheaters who make America look horrible to the rest of the world. Good riddins, you filthy cheater!

[cyclingcartman]

Here's the deal you non-cycling know-nothings. Quit bloviating about what you know nothing about. Lance won 7 tour titles and during this time (during his prime) a lot of companies like Nike, Radio Shack and USA cycling benefited from increased revenue and cycling memberships. There were 1000's upon 1000's of new people all around the world that were intrigued with Lance Armstrong's success and started watching cycling making several companies more money. Many companies and people benefited from Lance euphoria. But they always knew and suspected he was doping but always turned a jaundiced eye away from these facts. Now that he's retired and is no longer a profit center for them they can now turn their back on him. The Ironic part of all this is they cant give the tour championships to anyone in the top 8 because they have all failed a drug test and Lance has not failed 1 in over 500 tests. So #9 in one case will win the tour. Make money on you and then throw you under the bus when their done with you.

[km1953]

still doesn't change the fact that armstrong was a drg cheat!!!

[xcski321]

Yes, indeed. Armstrong brought Bicycling back from the same situation of the 80's. Everyone (fellow riders, sponsors, anything bicycling manufacturers), including France and the Tour, drafted off of Lance and rode his coattails. Now, they duck and cover to make him the Scapegoat and Fallguy. Not only that, they lob their own jabs on a man who is down...in the media. Yet in true Lance form, Armstrong does not whine or point the finger. He moves forward with poise and dignity. Shame on UCI and the Tour Director. We will no longer watch the Tour de Farce. Our plans to vacation in France and ride some routes...Erased! You really should not air your dirty laundry...Just Clean it UP.

[rwsmith29456]

How in the world did this get by for so many years if it was team doping?? I wonder if Armstrong still thinks winning at any cost, including cheating, is a good idea.

[Cymru507]

If all the notariety and honours gained by Lance Armstrong stemmed from his doping-assisted performances in cycling, including his founding and promotion of LiveStrong, then they were achieved fraudulently.
In Armstrong's case, the sport of cycling and his public service persona are so entwined that to say, "He's a cheat, but he has done great things," is tantamount to describing a chronic plagarist who is incapable of original thought, a great writer.
Through their arrogance and surreptitous doping, Armstrong and his supporting staff have damaged the sport beyond measure.
Armstrong claims he has passed all his doping tests. That statement alone is false. In the Tour de Suisse, he presented a back-dated prescription for cortisone cream to excuse the substance's presence in a test. And when EPO testing was perfected, a sample given after a stage win in the Tour de France tested positive.
Those who protest his innocence are unwilling to accept that they erred in chosing a sports hero. They are the same poeple who still believe a host of other premier athletes, who have been labeled dope cheaters, are all victims of some grand conspiracy.
Well, it ain't so. And if you believe otherwise, you are just kidding yourself.

[Cymru507]

If all the notariety and honours gained by Lance Armstrong stemmed from his doping-assisted performances in cycling, including his founding and promotion of LiveStrong, then they were achieved fraudulently.
In Armstrong's case, the sport of cycling and his public service persona are so entwined that to say, "He's a cheat, but he has done great things," is tantamount to describing a chronic plagarist who is incapable of original thought, a great writer.
Through their arrogance and surreptitous doping, Armstrong and his supporting staff have damaged the sport beyond measure.
Armstrong claims he has passed all his doping tests. That statement alone is false. In the Tour de Suisse, he presented a back-dated prescription for cortisone cream to excuse the substance's presence in a test. And when EPO testing was perfected, a sample given after a stage win in the Tour de France tested positive.
Those who protest his innocence are unwilling to accept that they erred in chosing a sports hero. They are the same poeple who still believe a host of other premier athletes, who have labeled dope cheaters, are all victims of some grand conspiracy.
Well, it ain't so. And if you believe otherwise, you are just kidding yourself.

[1920s]

I was never a fan of Lance Armstrong or the Tour de France, but I find this news extremely sad. It puts a big black mark on American athletics that will be hard to overlook for a long time. It also puts his cancer charities in a bad light, and everyone associated with him. It's more the lies than the actual use of drugs, though that was inexcusable. It compares to the steroids era in baseball but seems worse somehow. It also compares to horse racing and its problems with drugs, again right here in the USA compared to European racing. Just when the country needs heros on all levels and hero of sorts is debunked, disgraced, ejected from public life. I honestly do feel sorry for him but he could have stopped lieing long ago and at least salvaged some honour.

[636anton33]

This was a witch hunt from the beginning! The whole cycling world can kiss it! I do not care if he broke the rules or not he was never caught while racing so it is over. That would be like someone comeing out saying a nascar driver had a bigger motor than others 2 years after a big race. If you do not catch it when it was happening then leave it alone. What a bunch of cry baby wimps this group is they clearly had a agenda to get Lance at all cost. What a group or jerks they are!!

[RyokoMocha]

So, cheating is fine as long as you don't get caught?!


That's a GREAT attitude.

[Canuck42]

So you really know right from wrong!!!! Cheating is right and being honest is wrong!!!! Shows your intelligence!!!!