http://www.guardian.co.uk...france-uci

http://www.guardian.co.uk...rence-live

12.56pm: And that's that. To emphasise the headline point once more:Lance Armstrong has been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned from cycling for life.

1pm: And a full recap:

• UCI accepts Usada decision in full and won't go the court of arbitration for sport.
• Therefore Lance Armstrong is stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned from cycling for life.
• Who, if anyone, is to be awarded those titles is to be decided on Friday.
• UCI president Pat McQuaid says he won't be resigning over the issue.
• McQuaid denies UCI covered up a positive Armstrong test in 2001.
• Suggestions that Armstrong bought off the UCI are "absolutely untrue" says McQuaid.
• UCI will continue to take donations from cyclists, as they did from Armstrong, despite potential for conflict of interest issues.
• McQuaid will continue legal action against journalist Paul Kimmage.

we all knew this was gonna happen since August, but the UCI (Union Cycliste International) has made it official today

sad day for sport, 7 years of "glory" down the toilet...

road racing cycling is a DEAD sport as far as I'm concerned: FUCK'EM all: cheaters, dealers, the pathetic committees which are unable to control/erase doping, etc, a professional sport that is forced to destroy its past/legacy because it's unable to control its present must be condemned to extinction, fuck it, it's OVER

It's all such utter bullshit from the doping to the denials to the stripping of titles and the coverup.

I still don't believe that it's true because of the magnitude of it all. But damn, how disappointing is this...

I mean I understand consequences for breaking rules and all but damn they are acting like he beat somebody to death with his bike and killed them or something.

Did he admit it? Do they have proof?

Stymie said:

Efan said:

Stymie said:

Did he admit it? Do they have proof?

I think he still refuses to admit it, but they seem to have tons and tons of proof.

I find it all a bit weird: if they had this proof for a long time why is this all coming out now?

proof of all those blood tests he passed?

The whole thing is a little murky, and if you believe the stories, then everyone in the damn race was doping

It's probably still not too late for him to apologize.

All y'all asking for proof need to read the report. Nike did, and not only did they fire him, they took his name off a building.

They're convinced he doped.

USADA has said the Tour titles should not be given to other riders who finished on the podium. The agency said 20 of the 21 riders on the podium in the Tour from 1999 through 2005 have been ''directly tied to likely doping through admissions, sanctions, public investigations'' or other means.

So he still won

But who is that 21st rider?

I just can't believe it.

What I understand is that they don't have proof, they only have other people who say he did it.

The French always were after him, they finally got him, but I just don't believe it when they never found anything!

It's like the middle ages.....it's a witch hunt.

doping is a weird charge, because it's not a drug, it's a person's own blood.

I get that it may be cheating, but testing for it has to be very difficult.

You'd think they would be kinder to the only guy that made riding a bike up and down a hill newsworthy or entertaining.

I say let everyone who wants 2 cheat................ cheat.

Let's just say ANYONE can pass a blood or piss test when the wrong results are made public when you secretly pay off the people through third parties to get the pass the test result you want.

The reason this is such a big deal is because of all the money that was used to cover this up.

"Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive."

Sir Walter Scott.

When people engaged in nefarious behavior, very seldom are their acts contained amongst a small inner circle: Watergate, Iran Contra, prosecutorial misconduct, baseball steroid scandal, Penn State scandal, track & field steroid scandal, and/or military torture; you'll find a wide circle of people knew illegality was taking place and for various reasons people keep quite. Even so, anytime you are apart of wrong doing with anyone, there's a chance you'll be found out. There's no honor among liars, killers, or thieves.

The case against Mr. Armstrong was damning. Yes, his teammates willingly participated in doping and drugging but the evidence shows they used a large number of people to cover up, pay, deliver, transport, monitor they're doping and drug activity. Armstrong wasn't a victim of a witch-hunt as he and his supports would like everyone to believe; he could've gone before the USADA and presented his case under oath. Mr. Armstrong would have been sworn in to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing-but the truth. The USADA report named his ex-wife over a dozen times and I'm sure he didn't want her be pulled into this, the man had been cornered and he cut his loses.

NDRU said:

USADA has said the Tour titles should not be given to other riders who finished on the podium. The agency said 20 of the 21 riders on the podium in the Tour from 1999 through 2005 have been ''directly tied to likely doping through admissions, sanctions, public investigations'' or other means.

So he still won

But who is that 21st rider?

Imago... who else?