Lance Armstrong Bows out of Doping Allegations – Stripped of Tour de France Wins

After years of defending his seven Tour de France victories against allegations of doping with performance enhancing drugs, Lance Armstrong has called it quits. This week Lance Armstrong decided not to proceed with arbitration and will be stripped of his Tour de France titles as well as his 2000 Olympic bronze medal.

Additionally, Armstrong will be banned from competition for life according to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency Chief Executive Travis Tygart. While Armstrong never tested positive for performance enhancing drugs, he was accused by many including former team members who said that there was a team-wide deceit regarding the use of performance-enhancers which included blood doping and steroid use.

On Thursday, Lance Armstrong released a statement regarding his decision not to pursue the matter further saying, “There comes a point in every man’s life when he has to say, ‘Enough is enough.’ For me, that time is now. I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999.”

Armstrong continued with his explanation, “Over the past three years, I have been subjected to a two-year federal criminal investigation followed by Travis Tygart’s unconstitutional witch hunt,” Armstrong wrote. “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.”

“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, but I refuse to participate in a process that is so one-sided and unfair.”