9:57 am - 10/22/2012
Lance Armstrong is losing the seven cycling titles that made him a legend.
The International Cycling Union announced Monday that Armstrong is being stripped of his Tour de France titles.
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.
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.
“Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling and he deserves to be forgotten in cycling,” McQuaid said at a news conference. “This is a landmark day for cycling.”
“I was sickened by what I read in the USADA report,” McQuaid added. “It is very difficult to accept and understand that that went on.
“Lance Armstrong deserves to be forgotten in cycling.”
The decision clears the way for Tour de France organizers to officially remove Armstrong’s name from the record books, erasing his consecutive victories from 1999-2005.
Tour director Christian Prudhomme has said the race would go along with whatever cycling’s governing body decides and will have no official winners for those years.
Armstrong’s representatives had no immediate comment.
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. He also loses all race results achieved since August 1998.
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, including that he pressured them to take banned drugs.
“I was sickened by what I read in the USADA report,” McQuaid said, singling out the testimony of former teammate David Zabriskie. “The story he told of how he was coerced and to some extent forced into doping is just mind boggling.”
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. USADA’s report, released earlier this month, was aimed at showing why the agency ordered the sanctions against him.
“At the moment Lance Armstrong hasn’t admitted to anything, yet all the evidence is there in this report that he doped,” McQuaid said.
Former Armstrong team director Johan Bruyneel is also facing doping charges, but he is challenging the USADA case in arbitration.
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.
Armstrong has consistently argued that the USADA system was rigged against him, calling the agency’s effort a “witch hunt” which pressured witnesses into co-operating.
“It is for Mr. Armstrong to defend himself against such witness statements that he deems to be incorrect. It is not for the UCI to do so,” the governing body said in a statement.
If Armstrong’s Tour victories are not reassigned there would be a hole in the record books, marking a shift from how organizers treated similar cases in the past.
When Alberto Contador was stripped of his 2010 Tour victory for a doping violation, organizers awarded the title to Andy Schleck. In 2006, Oscar Pereiro was awarded the victory after the doping disqualification of American rider Floyd Landis.
USADA also thinks the Tour titles should not be given to other riders who finished on the podium, such was the level of doping during Armstrong’s era.
The agency said 20 of the 21 riders on the podium in the Tour from 1999 through 2005 have been “directly tied to likely doping through admissions, sanctions, public investigations” or other means. It added that of the 45 riders on the podium between 1996 and 2010, 36 were by cyclists “similarly tainted by doping.”
The world’s most famous cyclist could still face further sports sanctions and legal challenges. Armstrong could lose his 2000 Olympic time-trial bronze medal and may be targeted with civil lawsuits from ex-sponsors or even the U.S. government.
McQuaid said the UCI’s board will meet Friday to discuss the OIympic issue and whether to update other race results taking account of Armstrong’s disqualifications.
A so-called “Truth and Reconciliation” commission, which could offer a limited amnesty to riders and officials who confessed to doping practices, will also be discussed, UCI legal adviser Philippe Verbiest said.
In total, 26 people — including 15 riders — testified to USADA that Armstrong and his teams used and trafficked banned substances and routinely used blood transfusions. Among the witnesses were Canadian teammate Michael Barry, loyal sidekick George Hincapie and admitted dopers Tyler Hamilton and Landis.
USADA’s case also implicated Italian sports doctor Michele Ferrari, depicted as the architect of doping programs, and longtime coach and team manager Bruyneel.
Ferrari — who has been targeted in an Italian prosecutor’s probe — and another medical official, Dr. Luis Garcia del Moral, received lifetime bans.
Bruyneel, team doctor Pedro Celaya and trainer Jose “Pepe” Marti opted to take their cases to arbitration with USADA. The agency could call Armstrong as a witness at those hearings.
Bruyneel, a Belgian former Tour de France rider, lost his job last week as manager of the RadioShack-Nissan Trek team which Armstrong helped found to ride for in the 2010 season.
Source
'No place in cycling': Lance Armstrong stripped of Tour de France titles
Lance Armstrong is losing the seven cycling titles that made him a legend.
The International Cycling Union announced Monday that Armstrong is being stripped of his Tour de France titles.
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.
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.
“Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling and he deserves to be forgotten in cycling,” McQuaid said at a news conference. “This is a landmark day for cycling.”
“I was sickened by what I read in the USADA report,” McQuaid added. “It is very difficult to accept and understand that that went on.
“Lance Armstrong deserves to be forgotten in cycling.”
The decision clears the way for Tour de France organizers to officially remove Armstrong’s name from the record books, erasing his consecutive victories from 1999-2005.
Tour director Christian Prudhomme has said the race would go along with whatever cycling’s governing body decides and will have no official winners for those years.
Armstrong’s representatives had no immediate comment.
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. He also loses all race results achieved since August 1998.
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, including that he pressured them to take banned drugs.
“I was sickened by what I read in the USADA report,” McQuaid said, singling out the testimony of former teammate David Zabriskie. “The story he told of how he was coerced and to some extent forced into doping is just mind boggling.”
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. USADA’s report, released earlier this month, was aimed at showing why the agency ordered the sanctions against him.
“At the moment Lance Armstrong hasn’t admitted to anything, yet all the evidence is there in this report that he doped,” McQuaid said.
Former Armstrong team director Johan Bruyneel is also facing doping charges, but he is challenging the USADA case in arbitration.
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.
Armstrong has consistently argued that the USADA system was rigged against him, calling the agency’s effort a “witch hunt” which pressured witnesses into co-operating.
“It is for Mr. Armstrong to defend himself against such witness statements that he deems to be incorrect. It is not for the UCI to do so,” the governing body said in a statement.
If Armstrong’s Tour victories are not reassigned there would be a hole in the record books, marking a shift from how organizers treated similar cases in the past.
When Alberto Contador was stripped of his 2010 Tour victory for a doping violation, organizers awarded the title to Andy Schleck. In 2006, Oscar Pereiro was awarded the victory after the doping disqualification of American rider Floyd Landis.
USADA also thinks the Tour titles should not be given to other riders who finished on the podium, such was the level of doping during Armstrong’s era.
The agency said 20 of the 21 riders on the podium in the Tour from 1999 through 2005 have been “directly tied to likely doping through admissions, sanctions, public investigations” or other means. It added that of the 45 riders on the podium between 1996 and 2010, 36 were by cyclists “similarly tainted by doping.”
The world’s most famous cyclist could still face further sports sanctions and legal challenges. Armstrong could lose his 2000 Olympic time-trial bronze medal and may be targeted with civil lawsuits from ex-sponsors or even the U.S. government.
McQuaid said the UCI’s board will meet Friday to discuss the OIympic issue and whether to update other race results taking account of Armstrong’s disqualifications.
A so-called “Truth and Reconciliation” commission, which could offer a limited amnesty to riders and officials who confessed to doping practices, will also be discussed, UCI legal adviser Philippe Verbiest said.
In total, 26 people — including 15 riders — testified to USADA that Armstrong and his teams used and trafficked banned substances and routinely used blood transfusions. Among the witnesses were Canadian teammate Michael Barry, loyal sidekick George Hincapie and admitted dopers Tyler Hamilton and Landis.
USADA’s case also implicated Italian sports doctor Michele Ferrari, depicted as the architect of doping programs, and longtime coach and team manager Bruyneel.
Ferrari — who has been targeted in an Italian prosecutor’s probe — and another medical official, Dr. Luis Garcia del Moral, received lifetime bans.
Bruyneel, team doctor Pedro Celaya and trainer Jose “Pepe” Marti opted to take their cases to arbitration with USADA. The agency could call Armstrong as a witness at those hearings.
Bruyneel, a Belgian former Tour de France rider, lost his job last week as manager of the RadioShack-Nissan Trek team which Armstrong helped found to ride for in the 2010 season.
Source
Edited at 2012-10-22 02:17 pm (UTC)
Where's the rebuke? Where's Bob Costas, now is the time for his self-righteousness.
Is it because he was a nice guy to the US media? Because the British media had long branded him as self-obsessed (Not uncommon among athletes, mind.) but also a bully who intimidated the media.
shame
(I could be projecting here--but while I was disappointed to find out about this with Armstrong, I didn't really care per say--so yea I probably am projecting)
/cue the pressed a-roid stans
I'm not saying he didn't dope but if you can't prove it how is it fair to strip someone of their titles?
I shall forever assume that all players do it until the names are released.
If people believe he doped that's fine , I don't know if he did
But there was never any proof that he did right? Stripping people of medals and titles without solid proof is problematic tbh
I don't care, but the LiveStrong foundation actually has done good things for cancer survivors. I hope it continues.
I mean he had been tested all through his career and came up clean for what they were testing for. Unless they saved past samples and tested them now for a list of updated drugs; it would be difficult to prove or disprove at this point.
it's all in the report, but if you don't want read the proof, that's another thing entirely.
first 1-his doctor named ferrari , worked for one of the scientist who was making test machines and medical procedures,
the riders said while he was making the new tests system he was also teaching them how to avoid testing positive.
lance armostrong had 2 failed tests,one of them he was boosting he and his team had a meeting with the International Cycling Union (UCI) paid them and the test went away.
there are proof UCI did receive the money but they say it was just a contribution to cycling.
also people inside UCI tipped off lance and his team.
today they have new test system and some armstrong s blood samples show that he must have been doing blood transfusions
cos the components of the blood were below human standards
USADA asked to re test specifics armstrong s " old tests" but UCI denied it saying lance has to consent(he didnt )
some of the whistleblowers riders who now openly admitt using drugs never had a positive test /failed test.
Pressure is also mounting on cycling's governing body, the International Cycling Union (UCI), after the sport's leading anti-doping campaigner, David Millar, left, called for the body's honorary president, Hein Verbruggen, to resign in the wake of the Armstrong revelations. Verbruggen was president of the UCI during most of the Armstrong years – quitting his post at the end of 2004 – and as recently as last year insisted that the seven-times Tour de France winner had "never, never, never" engaged in doping. The 71-year-old Dutchman is also a member of the UCI's management committee.
Verbruggen's time at the UCI includes two critical moments. The first was in 2002 when it accepted two donations totalling more than $100,000 from Armstrong, one of which was used to purchase a machine for analysing blood samples. The second was in 2005 when the Dutch lawyer Emile Vrijman was appointed to investigate allegations from the newspaper L'Equipe that EPO had been detected in five urine samples taken from Armstrong during the 1999 Tour when the samples were tested retroactively for scientific purposes.
Yeah, it's shady to strip the titles without actual scientific proof, but I also feel like you wouldn't have so many people coming forward as witnesses implicating themselves if it wasn't true.
There is tons of proof, you can read the findings and see.
will simon cho be banned for life or not.
I doubt Simon will get banned for life seeing as how there were a number of athletes being abused.
If anything the Coach will go down.
i'm just interested to see if this tampers down all the talk about the south korean skating team being dirty cheaters, since this latest scandal is coming from the american team. or if it'll just make things worse since the skater and coach involved are of korean descent.
earlier simon was talking about how he wanted to skate in sochi. oh, simon, you incredibly naive dumbass.... even if he doesn't get banned for life, ain't no way that boy's gonna be skating in sochi.
lol
cause errrrrbody else was doping as well
I just want my bb Bradley Wiggins to be clean.
I did lol at the news that Cavendish was leaving Team Sky came out the day after they announced that everyone had to sign a pledge saying that they never had doped and never would do. I know it's been known for a while that Cav was leaving but I just found the timing of the official announcement to be unfortunate for him (but amusing for me).
Riders at the top are Not all doping. It is frowned upon, and they will get major shit. A lot of guys work their ass off training, and it kills me to see a guy doping get the win. Also, people have been saying for YEARS that Lance has been doping, this whole shitstorm has been building up for a while in the cycling world. Only now is eveone else getting the news and seem shocked by it.
And what were his teammates doing while they were watching him inject and then subsequently win time and time again? Why didn't they say anything then? Why not get him out then and give yourself a better chance of winning the title?