Doping rumors have long since followed the winning cyclist, but now the seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong said he would no longer fight doping charges by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). Armstrong, a cancer survivor considered one of the all-time greats in his sport, made the announcement in a written statement as he faced a midnight deadline on Thursday to formally challenge the accusations against him.
“There comes a point in every man’s life when he has to say, ‘Enough is enough’,” the Texan said in the statement posted on his website, Lancearmstrong.com. He admits no wrongdoing.
“For me, that time is now. I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999.”
A spokeswoman for the USADA, Annie Skinner, responded that the agency would strip Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles and ban him from the sport of professional cycling for life.
“It is a sad day for all of us who love sport and our athletic heroes,” Travis Tygart, USADA’s chief executive officer, said in a statement released to Reuters by the USADA.
“This is a heartbreaking example of how the win-at-all-costs culture of sport, if left unchecked, will overtake fair, safe and honest competition, but for clean athletes, it is a reassuring reminder that there is hope for future generations to compete on a level playing field without the use of performance-enhancing drugs,” he said.
Armstrong, who remains the face of anti-cancer charity Livestrong, maintains that there was no physical evidence to support what he called Tygart’s “outlandish and heinous claims”.
Armstrong has as yet never failed a doping test and disputed the USADA’s authority to take away his titles. But the USADA formally charged Armstrong in June with doping and taking part in a conspiracy with members of his championship teams. In a letter to Armstrong, the USADA wrote that it has blood samples from 2009 and 2010 that are “fully consistent” with doping. The letter, which was published in the Washington Post, indicates that at least 10 former teammates and colleagues of Armstrong will testify he used doping drugs during races from 1999 to 2005.
Former teammate and deposed Tour de France winner Floyd Landis accused Armstrong in 2010 of using performance-enhancing drugs and teaching others how to avoid being caught.
Landis said he witnessed some of his teammates, including Armstrong, use illegal drugs to boost performance and endurance.
Representatives for the World Anti-Doping Agency, based in Montreal could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday night. A spokesman for the International Cycling Union said it would put out a statement later on Friday.