Downward Spiral
The hits keep coming: Lance Armstrong officially stripped of seven Tour deFrance titles
Less than a week after announcing he would step down as the chairman of Livestrong, Lance Armstrong officially has been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles.
On Monday morning, cycling's governing body agreed to revoke Armstrong's titles and ban him from cycling for life. The decision aligns with the USADA's doping charges against Armstrong and the agency's stance that the athlete should be stripped of his titles from 1999-2005.
As reported by the Associated Press:
UCI President Pat McQuaid announced that the federation accepted the USADA's report on Armstrong and would not appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The decision clears the way for Tour de France organizers to officially remove Armstrong's name from the record books, erasing his consecutive victories from 1999-2005.
Tour director Christian Prudhomme has said the race would go along with whatever cycling's governing body decides and will have no official winners for those years.
In the past week, Armstrong also has been dropped by longtime sponsors, including Nike, Trek Bicycles and Anheuser-Busch.
