Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2012 16:23:25 GMT 10
Lance Armstrong to be stripped of Tour de France titles after dropping drug charge fight
AP
August 24, 201212:11PM
THE US Anti-Doping Agency will ban Lance Armstrong from cycling for life and strip him of all his results since August, 1998, including his seven Tour de France titles.
Armstrong today dropped any further challenges to USADA's allegations that he took performance-enhancing drugs to win cycling's premier event from 1999-2005.
Armstrong says USADA doesn't have the authority to vacate his Tour titles, but USADA chief executive Travis Tygart said the anti-drug agency had the power to make that decision.
Tygart called the Armstrong case a "heartbreaking" example of a win-at-all costs approach to sports as USADA confirmed it would strip Armstrong of all results since August 1, 1998.
Armstrong, who retired last year, declined to enter arbitration - his last option - because he said he was weary of fighting accusations that have dogged him for years. He has consistently pointed to the hundreds of drug tests that he has passed as proof of his innocence
"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 in a statement.
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."
Lance Armstrong walks out of the Tour de France's anti-doping control bus in 2002. He may now lose that Tour title after announcing he won't fight USADA drugs charges
USADA will almost certainly treat Armstrong's decision as an admission of guilt, and hang the label of 'drug cheat' on an athlete who was a hero to thousands for overcoming life-threatening testicular cancer and for his foundation's support for cancer research.
The agency can impose a lifetime ban and recommend Armstrong be stripped of his titles
What a fucking joke.
He has never tested positive to anything, ever.
So what they are basically saying is the anyone who wins a cycling race is on drugs, proberbly true, but to do this to a man who has been tested thousands of times is a joke.
;D
Happy New Years Everybody!!!
