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Lance Armstrong has been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, after the International Cycling Union accepted the findings of the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s investigation.
UCI president Pat McQuaid has confirmed Lance Armstrong has been stripped of all of his tour titles.
Then overall leader and five-time Tour de France winner US Postal rider Lance Armstrong of
the US cycles down a mountain during the 204.5 km long 17th stage of the Tour de France
from Bourg-d'Oisans to Le Grand Bornand, in this July 22, 2004 file photo. [Photo/Agencies]
Pat McQuaid said, "The UCI will ban Lance Armstrong from cycling and the UCI will strip him of his seven Tour de France titles. Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling. The UCI will also recognise the sanctions imposed upon the riders who testified against Lance Armstrong. The UCI indeed thanks them for telling their stories."
Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme has called the UCI’s decision totally logical. The UCI will now meet on Friday to discuss whether or not to reallocate the winners for the Armstrong years.
Prudhomme has repeated his wish that the results remain blank.
Christian Prudhomme, Tour de France director, said, "The decision taken today by the UCI is in no way a surprise, it is even completely logical and we expected it. Lance Armstrong is no longer the winner of the Tour de France from 1999- 2005, and as I’ve already said ten days ago, we want the winner of the Tour de France from those years to be blank. It’s the UCI which will formally take that decision but for us, it’s clear that there should be no winner in those years."
Armstrong, received a life ban from the US anti-doping agency for, what the organisation called, the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen.
The American cyclist, who overcame cancer to return to professional cycling, won the Tour de France in seven successive years from 1999 to 2005. He has always denied doping but chose not to fight the charges filed against him.
中国公共新闻摘编：GAN JADE |
