Lance Armstrong stripped of Tour de France titles, banned for life by International Cycling Union (VIDEO)
International Cycling Union (UCI) President Pat McQuaid arrives to give a press conference to announce the decision about the fate of US cyclist Lance Armstrong on October 22, 2012 in Geneva. Armstrong was banned on October 22 by the UCI as the world cycling body upheld an earlier doping sanction handed to the seven-times Tour de France champion. McQuaid said the UCI would strip Armstrong of all of his Tour de France titles, adding “Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling.”
Lance Armstrong has been stripped of his record seven Tour de France titles by the International Cycling Union (UCI), and is banned for life from competition.
The sport's governing body ruled Monday on the recommendation that Armstrong lose all his results since August 1, 1998.
This follows a finding by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) earlier this month of "overwhelming" evidence that Armstrong was involved in "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program."
"Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling," UCI president Pat McQuaid said in announcing the ruling, CNN reported. "He deserves to be forgotten."
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USADA said this month that a doping program for cyclists on Armstrong’s US Postal Service team was the most successful and sophisticated ever in sports history.
USADA shared its “reasoned decision” with the UCI and other global sports and anti-doping bodies.
“The evidence shows beyond any doubt that the US Postal Service pro cycling team ran the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen,” USADA CEO Travis T. Tygart said on the USADA website.
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A 1,000-page report that includes testimony from 26 people and evidence of payments, data and test results forms the backbone of the case against Armstrong.
"Today’s young riders do not deserve to be branded or tarnished by the past or to pay the price for the Armstrong era," a UCI statement said.
"Cycling has a future and those who will define that future can be found among the young generation of riders who have chosen to prove that you can compete and win clean."
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