In an official statement seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong has announced that he will no longer fight the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) over doping allegations dating back to his World Tour days, saying, ‘There comes a point in every man’s life when he has to say, “Enough is enough.” For me, that time is now.’ USADA say they will ban Armstrong from cycling for life and strip him of his Tour de France titles, despite Armstrong, the UCI and USA Cycling making clear that they have no jurisdiction to do so.
Armstrong was faced years of accusations focusing on illegal blood transfusions and steroid and EPO (blood booster) abuse, but has consistently made himself available for testing and passed every test with a 100% clean bill of health. Yet the rumours and more recently the USADA witch hunt has continued. Now Armstrong – who is currently banned from his new passion for triathlon by the actions of the USADA – appears to have resigned himself to the position, saying of the Tour de France days, ‘I know who won those seven Tours, my team mates know who won those seven Tours, and everyone I competed against knows who won those seven Tours. We all raced together…’
He concludes his statement saying, ‘Today I turn the page. I will no longer address this issue, regardless of the circumstances. I will commit myself to the work I began before ever winning a single Tour de France title: serving people and families affected by cancer, especially those in underserved communities… Going forward, I am going to devote myself to raising my five beautiful (and energetic) kids, fighting cancer, and attempting to be the fittest 40-year old on the planet.’
To read Lance Armstrong’s full statement visit lancearmstrong.com
