Thursday night Lance Armstrong who was once considered the greatest cyclist of all time decided to drop his fight against the USADA’s allegations that he took performance enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France between 1999 and 2005.
With Armstrong dropping his fight the USADA will now strip the seven-time tour Champion of his titles and ban him for life from the sport of competitive cycling.
“There comes a point in every man’s life when he has to say, ‘Enough is enough.’ For me, that time is now,” Armstrong said in a statement sent to The Associated Press. He called the USADA investigation an “unconstitutional witch hunt.”
“I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999,” he said. “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.”
Despite the USADA’s intentions, Armstrong believes that the organization doesn’t have the power to strip him of his titles.
“USADA cannot assert control of a professional international sport and attempt to strip my seven Tour de France titles,” he said. “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.”
Even though Armstrong has never failed a drug test, the USADA maintains that Armstrong has used banned substances as far back as 1996, including the blood-booster EPO and steroids as well as blood transfusions — all to boost his performance. In addition to this the USADA cites Armstrong’s former teammate Floyd Landis’ outline of the drug use among the U.S. Postal Service team which included Armstrong.
Landis was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title after testing positive for PEDs.
Armstrong retired from the sport last year and last raced in the Tour de France in 2010.
h/t: Associated Press
