Dope Cheat Armstrong Banned For Life

Cycling’s governing body agreed Monday to strip Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles and ban him for life, following a report from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that accused him of leading a massive doping program on his teams.

Speaking from Geneva, International Cycling Union President Pat McQuaid confirmed to a news conference that UCI had decided to uphold USADA’S decision to strip Armstrong of his Tour titles.
“Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling,” McQuaid told ABC News.
Now it is the turn of Tour de France organisers to have their say as the race prepares to celebrate its 100th edition next year.
Armstrong won consecutive Tours from 1999-2005. Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said earlier the Tour will have no official winners for the seven races Armstrong won if he is stripped of his victories by the UCI.
USADA has said the Tour titles should not be given to other riders who finished on the podium.
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.”
Armstrong spoke briefly Sunday at start of his Livestrong charity’s fund-raiser bike ride, telling the crowd he’s faced a “very difficult” few weeks. But he did not otherwise mention USADA’s report detailing evidence of performance-enhancing drug use by Armstrong and his teams or the sanctions.
“I’ve been better, but I’ve also been worse,” Armstrong, a cancer survivor, told the crowd in Austin, Texas, repeating a line from his remarks at. Livestrong’s 15th anniversary celebration Friday night.