COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado — Iconic US cyclist Lance Armstrong was officially branded a drugs cheat Friday by the US Anti-Doping Agency as it stripped him of his record seven Tour de France titles. Armstrong was also banned from cycling for life by the agency, which said his decision not to pursue arbitration in an effort to clear himself of doping charges leveled in June triggered the action. “USADA announced today that Lance Armstrong has chosen not to move forward with the independent arbitration process and as a result has received a lifetime period of ineligibility and disqualification of all competitive results from Aug. 1, 1998 through the present,” USADA said in a statement. Armstrong, a cancer survivor revered by millions for his efforts in raising cancer awareness and supporting those stricken by the disease, won cycling's most prestigious race from 1999-2005. He has long denied doping accusations but said Thursday night that he wouldn't pursue an arbitration process he believes is “unfair”. “Finished with this nonsense,” Armstrong said. “As is every athlete's right, if Mr. Armstrong would have contested the USADA charges, all of the evidence would have been presented in an open legal proceeding for him to challenge,” USADA chief executive Travis Tygart said in a statement. “He chose not to do this knowing these sanctions would immediately be put into place.” USADA cited “aggravating circumstances” under the World Anti-Doping Code in issuing a lifetime ban. USADA laid out five anti-doping rule violations for which Armstrong is being sanctioned, beginning with “use and/or attempted use of prohibited substances and/or methods including EPO, blood transfusions, testosterone, corticosteroids and masking agents”. Armstrong is also charged with possession of prohibited substances, including the drugs and doping equipment, trafficking in EPO, testosterone, and corticosteroids, administering or attempting to administer banned drugs to others and “assisting, encouraging, aiding, abetting, covering up and other complicity involving one or more anti-doping rule violations and/or attempted anti-doping rule violations.” Armstrong had attempted to block USADA's proceedings against him with a lawsuit, but it was dismissed Monday. That gave him until Thursday to respond to USADA's charges. Tygart said USADA built its case against him from disclosures from “more than a dozen” witnesses who had first-hand experience of a doping conspiracy on the part of Armstrong's US Postal Service teams. In battling doping accusations Armstrong has always pointed to the fact that he has never failed a doping test. Armstrong said Thursday he has grown tired of defending himself in a seemingly never-ending fight against charges that he doped while piling up more Tour victories than anyone ever. “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 Thursday night. He called the USADA investigation an “unconstitutional witch hunt.” Johan Bruyneel, Armstrong's longtime coach, said the Texan is a victim of a legal process run amok. French newspapers Friday said justice had finally been done and asked whether more French riders would now feature on the Tour de France podium. “Armstrong personified impunity. He was seen as too well protected to fall. So the big message today is that impunity is over,” said Daniel Ressiot, a sports reporter who published the first doping allegations against Armstrong in the sporting daily L'Equipe seven years ago to the day. — Agencies
