World cycling body imposes lifetime ban on Armstrong, strips his Tour de France titles
Posted October 22, 2012 7:42 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The International Cycling Union has imposed a lifetime ban on Lance Armstrong and has stripped his seven Tour de France titles.
“UCI will ban Lance Armstrong from cycling and UCI will strip him of his seven Tour de France titles,” union president Pat McQuaid said. “Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling.”
The cycling’s governing body’s decision clears the way for Tour de France organizers to officially remove Armstrong’s name from the record books, erasing his consecutive victories from 1999-2005.
Mcquaid indicated they will have no official winners for those years.
The recommendation to strip Armstrong of his medals and ban him from the sport originally came from the U.S. anti doping agency.
The agency released 1,000-page case file a few weeks ago, including sworn statements from Armstrong’s former teammates that he doped for years.
The cycling union said it will hold a special meeting next Friday to figure out a strategy to ensure it’s never faced with a siutation like this again, insisting that “cycling has a future.”
There is no word on yet on if the International Olympic Committee plans to revoke Armstrong’s bronze medal from the 2000 Sydney games.
In the past, Armstrong has argued that he’s taken more than 500 drug tests and never failed.
In the meantime, some suggestions say that Armstrong’s sponsors might start to reclaim some of their money, CNN has reported.
