to move up and down
Lance Armstrong admits to doping in Oprah interview: source
After a decade of denial, Lance Armstrong has finally come clean: He used performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France.
The disgraced cyclist made the confession to Oprah Winfrey during an interview taped Monday, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the interview is to be broadcast Thursday on Winfrey’s network.
The admission Monday came hours after an emotional apology by Armstrong to the Livestrong charity that he founded and took global on the strength of his celebrity as a cancer survivor who came back to win one of sport’s most grueling events.
The confession was a stunning reversal, after years of public statements, interviews and court battles in which he denied doping and zealously protected his reputation. (Nathalie Magniez/AFP/GettyImages)
Lance Armstrong has cut formal ties with his cancer-fighting charity. Over the weekend, he posted a photograph on Twitter of him lying on a couch at his home with seven yellow Tour de France jerseys mounted on the wall.
Lance gets burned: U.S. cyclist Lance Armstrong has been unveiled as this year’s Edenbridge Bonfire Society celebrity guy. The Edenbridge Bonfire Society has a long tradition of building symbolic effigies of famous people to burn during their Guy Fawkes bonfire night, and this year it will be the disgraced Tour de France cyclist, who gets torched for his villainy in sport. (Photo: Gareth Fuller/The Associated Press/PA)
Lance Armstrong deletes Tour de France titles
Having won seven Tour de France titles is no longer part of Lance Armstrong’s Twitter profile.
As late as Monday night, Armstrong’s bio on the social media site included a mention of his seven Tour wins from 1999-2005, but reference to the race was removed hours after he was stripped of the titles by the International Cycling Union and banned from the sport for life for his involvement in what the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency described as a massive doping program.
Early Tuesday, Armstrong’s profile said: “Raising my five kids. Fighting Cancer. Swim, bike, run and golf whenever I can.” Previously, the profile said: “Father of 5 amazing kids, 7-time Tour de France winner, full time cancer fighter, part time triathlete.”
Lance Armstrong stripped of all seven Tour de France titles, banned from cycling for life after doping report
Cycling’s governing body agreed Monday to strip Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles and ban him for life, following a report from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that accused him of leading a massive doping program on his teams.
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. (Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
USADA says it will strip Lance Armstrong of all seven Tour de France titles
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency 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 that threaten his legacy as one of the greatest cyclists of all time.
Travis Tygart, USADA’s chief executive, said Armstrong would also be hit with a lifetime ban on Friday.
“I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999,” Armstrong 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.” (Stefano Rellandini/Reuters)
Paying homage to Forrest Gump at the Tour de France: Pumping his arms in victory, Peter Sagan of Slovakia won the crash-marred third stage of the Tour de France on Tuesday as cycling’s showcase race returned to its home country.
Sagan, at 22 one of cycling’s brightest stars, won his second stage in his debut Tour by bolting from the splintered pack with less than 300 metres left. He crossed the line several lengths and one second – ahead of runner-up Edvald Boasson Hagen of Norway and third-place finisher Peter Velits of Slovakia.
Sagan enjoys putting on a show for fans. He churned his arms, as a runner might, in a nod to the title character in the movie “Forrest Gump.”
“It’s a thing I’d discussed with my teammates about what kind of gesture I’d do on the line,” said Sagan, who rides for Liquigas-Cannondale. “Everybody said, ‘Do a Forrest Gump’ because when he was told to run, he ran. And when I’m told to win, I win.”
Lance Armstrong: A legend under siege
Another knot was added to the ever-tightening noose around Lance Armstrong’s neck on Sunday night. In a lengthy interview with 60 Minutes, Tyler Hamilton, yet another former teammate and old Armstrong ally, offered a damning portrait of an alleged doping culture that pervaded the United States Postal Service cycling team that Mr. Armstrong first led to victory at the 1999 Tour de France.
Far from being an innocent, the seven-time Tour winner and cancer survivor is cast as the team’s Drug-Cheat-in-Chief.
“He obviously was the biggest rider on the team,” Mr. Hamilton says in the interview. “He helped call the shots. Yes, he doped himself, like everybody else…. He was the leader of the team and he expected, going into the 1999 Tour, which was the first Tour he won, that we were going to do everything we could to help him win.”
And winning during a drug-riddled sport’s most drug-addled age meant riding dirty. (Photo: Stefano Rellandini/Reuters)
