U.S. Anti-Doping Agency erases Armstrong's titles
Jim Vertuno | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 12 years, 9 months AGO
The champagne toasts on the Champs-Elysees and the two-fingered "V'' for victory signs he flashed while pedaling to the finish line.
The excruciating mountain climbs and the explosions of power that pushed him past other heaving cyclists on narrow Alpine roads.
The legions of fans wearing yellow Livestrong bracelets cheering on the cancer survivor whose grit and determination gave them hope.
Faded images are all that remain of the unprecedented cycling career of Lance Armstrong.
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency erased the rest of it on Friday.
It wiped out 14 years of Armstrong's career - including his record seven Tour de France titles - and barred him for life from the sport after concluding he used banned substances.
USADA said it expected cycling's governing body to take similar action, but the International Cycling Union was measured in its response, saying it first wanted a full explanation of why Armstrong should relinquish Tour titles he won from 1999 through 2005.
The Amaury Sport Organization, which runs the world's most prestigious cycling race, said it would not comment until hearing from the UCI and USADA. The U.S. agency contends the cycling body is bound by the World Anti-Doping Code to strip Armstrong of one of the most incredible achievements in sports.
Armstrong, who retired a year ago and turns 41 next month, said Thursday he would no longer challenge USADA and declined to exercise his last option by entering arbitration. He denied again that he ever took banned substances in his career, calling USADA's investigation a "witch hunt" without any physical evidence.
He is now officially a drug cheat in the eyes of his nation's doping agency.
USADA chief executive Travis Tygart described the investigation as a battle against a "win-at-all-cost culture," adding that the UCI was "bound to recognize our decision and impose it."
"They have no choice but to strip the titles under the code," he said.
That would leave Greg LeMond as the only American to win the Tour de France, having done so in 1986, 1989 and 1990.
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