USADA strips Lance Armstrong of seven Tour de France titles

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency on Friday stripped Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles. It also negated any other results he may have earned from Aug. 1, 1998 through the present and slapped him with a lifetime ban from cycling for using and distributing performance enhancing drugs and then covering it up.

Armstrong, who retired from competitive cycling last year after winning the Tour de France from 1999 through 2005, has denied doping and said the USDA is on a "witch hunt."

He said the agency does not have physical evidence against him, and he did not cooperate with the investigation.

"Unfortunately, Lance is not someone we should look up to," said David Chauner, a member of the U.S. Cycling Hall of Fame, a two-time U.S. Olympian and the designer and organizer of the annual pro cycling race in Philadelphia. "He was a great cyclist, and he's done a lot for humanity. But the fact that he was engaged in a [doping] program like this - and actually leading the charge - is reprehensible."

The USADA said it expected cycling's governing body to take similar action, but the International Cycling Union (UCI) was measured in its response, saying it first wanted a full explanation of the USADA decision.

The Amaury Sport Organization, which runs the Tour de France, and the International Olympic Committee said they would not comment until hearing from both the UCI and USADA.

Armstrong won a bronze medal in the individual road time trial at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Travis T. Tygart, the USADA chief executive officer, said in a statement that he had no choice but to prosecute Armstrong.

"Any time we have overwhelming proof of doping, our mandate is to initiate the case through the process and see it to conclusion as was done in this case," Tygart said.

Armstrong became famous world-wide after being diagnosed with stage three testicular cancer in 1996. The tumors then spread to his abdomen, lungs, lymph nodes and brain before surgery and chemotheraphy left him cancer-free in 1997. He went on to create a foundation, Livestrong, that he says had raised more than $470 million to fight cancer.

"If I thought for one moment that by participating in USADA's process I could confront these allegations in a fair setting and - once and for all - put these charges to rest, I would jump at the chance," Armstrong said in a statement on Thursday. "I know who won those seven tours, my teammates know who won those seven tours, and everyone I competed against knows who won those seven tours. Nobody can ever change that. Especially not Travis Tygart."

Armstrong, 40, is accused of using EPO, blood transfusions, testosterone, corticosteroids and masking agents to improve his performances. He is also accused of encouraging others on his former team, United States Postal Service, to use the drugs and cover it up.

"This is extremely damaging for cycling and very damaging for the Tour de France," Nigel Currie, director of London-based sports marketing agency brandRapport, told Bloomberg News. "Armstrong has been such a big part of the Tour de France for the past 20 years, and took it to new levels for the American market."

The USDA said in a statment that Armstrong could have contested its charges in an independent arbitration process but chose not to by the deadline on Thursday night. Armstrong had challenged the USADA arbitration process in federal court, but the lawsuit was dismissed Monday in Austin, Texas.

So the USADA said it "was required under the applicable rules, including the World Anti-Doping Code under which [Armstrong] is accountable, to disqualify his competitive results and suspend him from all future competition."

The USADA said that all the evidence it had collected against Armstrong would have been presented in an open proceeding for him to challenge had he gone to arbitration.

According to the USADA, the evidence against Armstrong arose from "disclosures made to USADA by more than a dozen witnesses who agreed to testify and provide evidence about their firsthand experience and/or knowledge of the doping activity of those involved in the [United States Postal Service cycling team] conspiracy as well as analytical data."

Floyd Landis, Armstrong's former teammate who was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title because of doping, sent cycling authorities e-mails in 2010 accusing Armstrong and U.S. Postal team officials of breaking doping rules.

Tyler Hamilton, another teammate, alleged Armstrong used a blood-boosting drug while winning his first Tour de France title in 1999. Hamilton tested positive for blood doping at the 2004 Athens Olympics and was suspended twice for using performance- enhancing drugs.

The International Olympic Committee stripped Hamilton of his gold medal in the individual time trial from the Athens Games on Aug. 10.

Armstrong's attorneys said Landis and Hamilton weren't believable as witnesses against their client.

Armstrong's longtime coach, Johan Bruyneel, came to his defense and said he was the victim of an "unjust" legal case.

"I'm disappointed for Lance and for cycling in general that things have reached a stage where Lance feels that he has had enough and is no longer willing to participate in USADA's campaign against him," Bruyneel wrote on his personal website.

"Lance has never withdrawn from a fair fight in his life so his decision [Thursday] underlines what an unjust process this has been."

Chauner said he remembered the 21-year-old Lance Armstrong as a charismatic competitor with a great personality. Six years before he won his first of seven Tour de France titles, Armstrong trekked the Manayunk Wall to capture Chauner's 1993 U.S. Pro Cycling Championship.

Armstrong was a great fighter, Chauner said, and he showed signs of a future champion.

"He basically had all the talent in the world," said Chauner. "And to ensure he won, he went to great lengths to do that."

Chauner said Philadelphia's annual cycling race will no longer use Armstrong's previous win as a way to promote the race. Of the last 14 Tour de France winners, nine have lost their titles due to doping, which has affected the way Chauner organizes his race.

"We've stayed away from trying to attract the top professionals in the last few years just because we don't want to be associated with what's been happening over in Europe," Chauner said.