Here’s an interview Lance Armstrong conducted with ESPN’s Outside Lines in 2006, where the Tour De France champion defends himself against doping allegations.
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UPDATE: 12:30PM EST
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced Friday it was banning cyclist Lance Armstrongfor life and stripping him of his record seven Tour de France titles.
In a news release, USADA said Armstrong’s decision not to take the charges against him to arbitration triggers the lifetime ban and forfeiture of his Tour victories from 1999 to 2005.
SOURCE: Washington Post
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UPDATE: 11:30AM EST
The Associated Press is reporting that Tour de France officialls will hold off on punishing Armstrog and wait to see what UCI, USADA do next before acting on Armstrong.
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The hammer has come down on 7-time Tour De France cyclist Lance Armstrong, as the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency will investigate whether or not he was doping while earning his world champion titles.
STORY: Dazed And Confused! The 411 On Lance Armstrong And The Anti-Doping Agency
Travis Tygart, USADA’s chief executive, said it was the next logical step, since doping allegations against Armstrong have continuously plagued his career.
As reported by the Associated Press:
Tygart said the UCI, the sport’s governing body, was “bound to recognize our decision and impose it” as a signer of the World Anti-Doping Code.
“They have no choice but to strip the titles under the code,” he said.
On Friday, the International Cycling Union said not so fast. The UCI, which had backed Armstrong’s legal challenge to USADA’s authority, cited the same World Anti-Doping Code in saying that it wanted the USADA to explain why Armstrong should lose his titles.
Armstrong clearly knew his legacy would be blemished by his decision. He said he has grown tired of defending himself in a seemingly never-ending fight against charges that he doped while piling up more Tour victories than anyone ever.
He has consistently pointed to the hundreds of drug tests that he passed as proof of his innocence during his extraordinary run of Tour titles from 1999 to 2005.
“There comes a point in every man’s life when he has to say, ‘Enough is enough.’ For me, that time is now,” Armstrong said Thursday night, hours before the deadline to enter arbitration. He called the USADA investigation an “unconstitutional witch hunt.”
“I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999,” he said. “The toll this has taken on my family and my work for our foundation and on me leads me to where I am today – finished with this nonsense.”
All of Armstrong’s accomplishments hang in the balance and this will be his greatest fight in an attempt to clear his name.
SOURCE: AP
