There is zero physical evidence to support (the) outlandish and heinous claims. The only physical ev

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency weekly car rentals greensboro nc said Thursday night it will strip Lance Armstrong of his unprecedented seven Tour de France titles after he declared he was finished fighting the drug charges weekly car rentals greensboro nc that threaten his legacy as one of the greatest cyclists of all time.
Armstrong, who retired last year, declined weekly car rentals greensboro nc to enter USADA s arbitration process his last option because he said he was weary of fighting accusations that have dogged him for years. weekly car rentals greensboro nc He has consistently pointed to the hundreds of drug tests that he has passed as proof of his innocence during his extraordinary run of Tour titles stretchingfrom1999-2005.
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 in a statement weekly car rentals greensboro nc sent to The Associated Press. He called the USADA investigation an unconstitutional witch hunt.
I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage weekly car rentals greensboro nc in winning my seven Tours since 1999, he said. The toll this has taken on my family and my work for our foundation and on me leads me to where I am today finished with this nonsense.
USADA reacted quickly and treated Armstrong s decision as an admission of guilt, hanging the label of drug cheat on an athlete who was a hero to thousands for overcoming life-threatening testicular cancer and for his foundation s support weekly car rentals greensboro nc for cancer research.
Tygart said the agency can strip the Tour titles, though Armstrong disputed that as he insisted his decision is not an admission of drug use, but a refusal to enter an arbitration process he believes is unfair.
USADA cannot assert control of a professional international sport and attempt to strip my seven Tour de France titles, he said. I know who won those seven Tours, my teammates know who won those seven Tours, and everyone I competed against knows who won those seven Tours.
The 40-year-old Armstrong weekly car rentals greensboro nc walked away from the sport in 2011 without being charged following a two-year federal criminal investigation into many of the same accusations he faces from USADA. The federal probe was closed in February, but USADA announced in June it had evidence Armstrong used banned substances weekly car rentals greensboro nc and methods and encouraged their use by teammates. The agency also said it had blood tests from 2009 and 2010 that were fully consistent with blood doping.
Included in USADA s evidence weekly car rentals greensboro nc were emails weekly car rentals greensboro nc written by Armstrong s former U.S. Postal Service teammate Floyd Landis, who was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title after a positive drug test. Landis emails to a USA Cycling official detailed allegations of a complex doping program on the team.
USADA also said it had 10 former Armstrong teammates ready to testify against him. Other than suggesting they include Landis and Tyler Hamilton, both of whom have admitted to doping offenses, the agency has refused to say who they are or specifically what they would say.
There is zero physical evidence to support (the) outlandish and heinous claims. The only physical evidence here is the hundreds of (doping) controls I have passed with flying colors, Armstrong said.
Armstrong sued USADA in Austin, where he lives, in an attempt to block the case and was supported by the UCI. A judge threw out the case on Monday, siding with USADA despite questioning the agency s pursuit of Armstrong in his retirement.
USADA s conduct weekly car rentals greensboro nc raises serious questions about whether its real interest in charging Armstrong is to combat doping, or if it is acting according to less noble motives, weekly car rentals greensboro nc such as politics or publicity, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks wrote.
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, Armstrong said.
Armstrong could have pressed his innocence in USADA s arbitration process, but the cyclist has said he believes most people have already made up their minds about whether he s a fraud or a persecuted hero.
It was a stunning move for an athlete who built his reputation on not only beating cancer, but forcing himself through grueling offseason workouts no one else could match, then crushing his rivals in the Alps and the Pyrenees.
Although he had already been crowned a world champion and won individual stages at the Tour de France, Armstrong weekly car rentals greensboro nc was still relatively unknown in the U.S. until he won the epic race for the first time in 1999. It was the ultimate comeback weekly car rentals greensboro nc tale: When diagnosed with cancer, doctors had given him less than a 50 percent chance weekly car rentals greensboro nc of survival before surgery and brutal cycles of chemotherapy saved his life.
Armstrong s riveting victories, his work for cancer awareness and his gossip-page romances with rocker Sheryl Crow, fashion designer Tory Burch and actress weekly car rentals greensboro nc Kate Hudson made him a figure who transcended sports.
His dominance of the Tour de France elevated the sport s popularity in America to unprecedented levels. His story and success helped sell millions of the Livestrong plastic weekly car rentals greensboro nc yellow wrist bracelets, and enabled him to enlist lawmakers and global policymakers to promote cancer awareness and research. His Lance Armstrong Foundation has raised weekly car rentals greensboro nc nearly $500 million since its founding in 1997.
Created in 2000, USADA is recognized by Congress as the official weekly car rentals greensboro nc anti-doping agency for Olympic sports in the United States. Its investigators weekly car rentals greensboro nc joined U.S. agents during the federal probe, and Tygart had dismissed Armstrong s lawsuit as an attempt at concealing weekly car rentals greensboro nc the truth. He said the agency is motivated by one goal exposing cheaters in sport.
Others close to Armstrong were caught up in the charges: Johan Bruyneel, the coach of Armstrong s teams, and three members weekly car rentals greensboro nc of the medical staff and a consultant were also charged. Bruyneel is taking his case to arbitration, while two medical team staffers and consulting doctor Michele Ferrari didn t formally contest the charges and were issued lifetime ban by USADA. Ferrari later said he was innocent.
In a sport rife with cheaters, Armstrong has been under constant suspicion since the 1990s from those who refused to believe he was a clean rider winning cycling s premier event against a field of doped-up competition.
Through it all, Armstrong vigorously denied any and all hints, rumors and direct accusations he was cheating. He had the blazing personality, celebrity and personal wealth needed to fight back with legal and public relations battles to clear his name and he did, time after time.
Armstrong won his first Tour at a time when doping scandals had rocked the race. He was leading weekly car rentals greensboro nc the race when a trace amount of a banned anti-inflammatory corticosteroid was found in his urine; cycling officials said he was authorized to use a small amount of a cream to treat saddle sores.
Armstrong was criticized for his relationship with Ferrari, who was banned by Italian authorities over doping charges in 2002. Former personal and team assistants accused Armstrong of having steroids in an apartment in Spain and disposing of syringes that were used for injections.
In 2004, a Dallas-based promotions company initially refused to pay him a $5 million bonus for winning his sixth Tour de France because it wanted to investigate allegations raised by media in Europe. Testimony in that case included former teammate weekly car rentals greensboro nc Frankie Andreu and his wife, Betsy, saying Armstrong told doctors during his 1996 cancer treatments that he had taken a cornucopia of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs.
Two books published weekly car rentals greensboro nc in Europe, L.A. Confidential and L.A. Official, also raised doping allegations weekly car rentals greensboro nc and, in 2005, French magazine L Equipe reported weekly car rentals greensboro nc that retested urine samples from the 1999 Tour showed EPO use.
But he showed signs that he was tiring of the never-ending questions. Armstrong retired (for the first time) in 2005 and almost immediately considered a comeback before deciding to stay on the sidelines, in part, because he didn t want to keep answering doping questions.
I m sick of this, Armstrong said in 2005. Sitting here today, dealing with all this stuff again, weekly car rentals greensboro nc knowing if I were to go back, there s no way I could get a fair shake on the roadside, in doping control, or the labs.
Armstrong raced in the Tour again in 2010, under the cloud of the federal criminal investigation. Early last year, he quit the sport for good, but made a brief return as a triathlete until the USADA investigation shut him down.
(The) faith of all the cancer weekly car rentals greensboro nc survivors around the world. Everything I do off the bike would go away, too, Armstrong said then. And don t think for a second I don t understand that. It s not about money for me. Everything. It s also about the faith that people weekly car rentals greensboro nc have put in me over the years. So all of that would be erased.
Armstrong refused to go to arbitration with them. Of course; what s there to arbitrate? He says he didn t, they say he did. What, are they going to find some middle ground, a compromise? Its a total waste of time. The sole purpose of their arbitration weekly car rentals greensboro nc process is to extract an admission of guilt from him. I d tell them to go screw themselves too. If they ve got the proof, put it on the table.
US District Court Judge Sam Sparks has stated that the USADA pursues investigations into sports figures acting weekly car rentals greensboro nc according to less noble motives. [5] One victim of this zealotry is Lance Armstrong, seven-time champion of the Tour de France. Although retired from the sport with a history of hundreds of passed drug tests, Armstrong is now subject to an investigation by the USADA lacking due process where the USADA refuses to disclose the names of Armstrong s accusers and hides from accountability weekly car rentals greensboro nc in federal court. [6] By contrast, United States Attorney AndrDe Birotte Jr. announced in a press release that his office is closing an investigation into allegations of federal criminal conduct by members and associates of a professional bicycle racing team owned in part by Lance Armstrong.
Where is the evidence. Tak