Lance Armstrong looks set to be stripped of his seven Tour de France victories.
The Texan, who won cycling’s biggest race in consecutive years between 1999 and 2005, has lost a court action to prevent the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) from pursuing doping charges against him.
In a statement published on his website, Armstrong said “enough was enough” and condemned USADA’s action, led by its CEO, Travis Tygart, as a “witch hunt”.
Armstrong said: “There comes a point in every man’s life when he has to say, ‘Enough is enough.’ 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.
“Over the past three years, I have been subjected to a two-year federal criminal investigation followed by Travis Tygart’s unconstitutional witch hunt.
“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.”
His refusal to exercise his right to a public hearing in USADA’s arbitration process means the agency is almost certain to conclude its action by stripping Armstrong of his seven Tour titles.
Last month, USADA issued lifetime bans against two doctors and a trainer associated with the now defunct US Postal Service cycling team Armstrong led in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
USADA said they had uncovered evidence of a “sophisticated an far reaching doping conspiracy” and issued “lifetime periods of ineligibility” against the trio on charges relating to possession, trafficking, administration and complicity in the use of “EPO, blood transfusions, testosterone, hGH, corticosteroids and masking agents”.
In his statement, Armstrong dismissed USADA’s action against him as a “charade” and said Tygart had “zero evidence” to support claims against him he described as “heinous and outlandish”.
Days earlier, Tygart had released a statement welcoming the court’s dismissal of Armstrong’s lawsuit and said he looked forward to a public arbitration hearing where the evidence can be presented, witness testimony will be given under oath and subject to cross examination, and an independent panel of arbitrators will determine the outcome of the case.”
Such a hearing will not now take place, leaving the public to judge Armstrong’s guilt or innocence in the light of the likely subsequent action from USADA.
“If I thought for one moment that by participating in USADA’s process, I could confront these allegations in a fair setting and – once and for all – put these charges to rest, I would jump at the chance,” Armstrong said. “But I refuse to participate in a process that is so one-sided and unfair.
“The only physical evidence here is the hundreds of controls I have passed with flying colors. I made myself available around the clock and around the world. In-competition. Out of competition. Blood. Urine. Whatever they asked for I provided. What is the point of all this testing if, in the end, USADA will not stand by it?”
