Lance Armstrong drops fight against doping charges
"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. 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."
USADA will almost certainly treat Armstrong's decision as an admission of guilt and hang the label of drug cheat on an athlete who was a hero to thousands for overcoming life-threatening testicular cancer and for his foundation's support for cancer research.
The agency can impose a lifetime ban and recommend Armstrong be stripped of his titles. That would put the question in the hands of the International Cycling Union, which has disputed USADA's authority to pursue the investigation, and Tour de France officials, who have had a prickly relationship with Armstrong over the years.
Armstrong insisted his decision was not an admission of drug use but a refusal to enter an arbitration process he believed was improper and unfair to athletes facing charges. "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."
Lance Armstrong 'stripped' of Tour de France titles and banned
Lance Armstrong has been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and given a lifetime ban by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).
Blood doping was the charge.
