Lance Armstrong Stripped of 7 Tour de France Titles
Lance Armstrong
The International Cycling Union announced Monday that Lance Armstrong will be stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and has been banned from cycling, CNN reports.
The move is the latest development in light of a report released by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency earlier this month that indicated Armstrong's involvement in using performance-enhancing drugs and distributing them to his teammates.
"Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling," the union's president, Pat McQuaid, told reporters Monday. McQuaid said he was "sickened" by the USADA report, and noted that Armstrong somehow found a way to "beat the system" despite the fact that the union tested him 218 times over the course of his career, according to CNN.
Lance Armstrong faces being stripped of his titles
Armstrong has denied the USADA's allegations, but announced in August that he would no longer formally fight the charges, saying he was "finished with this nonsense." He has since resigned from his cancer charity Livestrong and has been dropped as a spokesperson for Nike.
Tour de France officials may decide to nominate alternate winners for the years Armstrong claimed victory.
Do you agree with the union's decision?