Cycling broadly welcomes Armstrong ban :

King Armstrong loses crown

European cycling federations, race organisers and former riders on Monday broadly welcomed a decision to ban Lance Armstrong for life and scrub his record for doping, including his seven straight Tour de France titles. Tour of Spain organiser Javier Guillen told AFP he believed the move by the International Cycling Union (UCI) governing body showed that no cyclist, not even one with Armstrong’s reputation, was above the law. Van Damme said the UCI now had to bolster trust in its procedures to restore confidence.

Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme described the Armstrong affair as a “global crisis”, calling for all of Armstrong’s entourage to be punished and reaffirming that he should repay his estimated 2.95 million euros of Tour winnings.

German Cycling Federation president Rudolf Scharping also welcomed the UCI, saying it was the only “logical” course of action.

But former Spanish rider Oscar Pereiro, who won the 2006 Tour de France after US rival Floyd Landis was disqualified for doping, said he believed that “the whole of the UCI should resign” over the Armstrong affair.

AFP