Armstrong's Tour victories to have no new winner
The 1999-2005 Tour de France races will have no winners attributed to
them, embattled world cycling officials announced Friday, ordering
doping-tainted icon Lance Armstrong to repay his prize money.
The International Cycling Union (UCI) this week effectively erased
Armstrong from the cycling history books when it decided not to appeal
sanctions imposed on the American by the United States Anti-Doping
Agency (USADA).
A damning report by USADA last week concluded that Armstrong helped
orchestrate the most sophisticated doping programme in the history of
sport. An UCI management committee on Friday "acknowledged that decisive
action was needed in response to the report".
Armstrong will now lose all of his results from 1998, the year he
resumed racing after successfully battling cancer, and a year before the
first of his seven consecutive yellow jersey wins from 1999-2005.
"With respect to Lance Armstrong and the implications of the USADA
sanctions which it endorsed on Monday 22 October, the management
committee decided not to award victories to any other rider or upgrade
other placings in any of the affected events," the UCI said.
"The committee decided to apply this ruling from now on to any
competitive sporting results disqualified due to doping for the period
from 1998 to 2005, without prejudice to the statute of limitation." The
UCI added: "The committee also called on Armstrong and all other
affected riders to return the prize money they had received."
AFP |