GENEVA — Seven lines of blanks.
From 1999 to 2005. There will be no Tour de France winner in the record book for those years.
Once the toast of the Champs-Elysees, Lance Armstrong was formally stripped of his seven Tour titles Monday and banned for life for doping.
As far as the Tour is concerned, his victories never happened. He was never on the top step of the podium. The winner’s yellow jersey was never on his back.
The decision by the International Cycling Union marked an end to the saga that brought down the most decorated rider in Tour history and exposed widespread cheating in the sport.
“Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling, and he deserves to be forgotten in cycling,” said Pat McQuaid, president of the governing body. “Make no mistake, it’s a catastrophe for him, and he has to face up to that.”
It’s also devastating for Tour de France organizers, who must carve seven gaping holes from the honor roll of the sport’s biggest event and airbrush Armstrong’s image from a sun-baked podium on the Champs-Elysees.
No more rides through Paris for the grim-faced cancer survivor bearing the American flag. No champagne. From the sport’s perspective, it’s all gone.
“We wish that there is no winner for this period,” Tour director Christian Prudhomme said. “For us, very clearly, the titles should remain blank. Effectively, we wish for these years to remain without winners.”
Armstrong’s fiercely defended reputation as a clean athlete was shattered by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency two weeks ago, when it detailed evidence of drug use and trafficking by his Tour-winning teams. USADA released its report to show why it ordered Armstrong banned from competition back in August. Monday’s judgment by the UCI was just the necessary next legal step to formalize the loss of his titles and expel him from the sport.
Prudhomme wants Armstrong to pay back prize money from his seven wins, which the French cycling federation tallied at $3.85 million. Typically, that money is shared among other members of the winner’s team.
Armstrong also once was awarded $7.5 million plus legal fees from Dallas-based SCA Promotions, which tried to withhold paying a bonus for the rider’s 2004 Tour victory after it alleged he doped to win.
The U.S. government could also get involved in a case brought by Floyd Landis, who was key to taking down his
former teammate by turning whistleblower in 2010.
The losses pile up for a man who dedicated himself to victory, over other cyclists and cancer that almost killed him in 1996.
After the UCI decision, another longtime Armstrong sponsor, Oakley sunglasses, cut ties with the rider.
Neither Armstrong, who points to hundreds of passed drug tests, nor his representatives had comment about Monday’s decision. But the rider was defiant in August when he chose not to fight USADA in an arbitration hearing.
“I know who won those seven Tours, my teammates know who won those seven Tours, and everyone I competed against knows who won those seven Tours,” he said. “The toughest event in the world where the strongest man wins. Nobody can ever change that.”
The condemnation by McQuaid confirmed Armstrong’s pariah status, after the UCI had backed him at times in trying to seize control of the doping investigation from USADA.
McQuaid said his board will meet Friday to discuss going after Armstrong’s 2000 Olympic bronze medal. The International Olympic Committee said it would study the UCI’s response and wait to receive its full decision before possibly taking away Armstrong’s medal from the Sydney Games time trial.
The USADA report said Armstrong and his teams used steroids, the blood booster EPO and blood transfusions. The report included statements from 11 former teammates who testified against Armstrong.
In all, 26 people — including 15 riders — testified to USADA that Armstrong and his teams used and trafficked banned substances and routinely used blood transfusions. Among the witnesses were George Hincapie, who recently revealed that he doped early in his career, and admitted dopers Landis and Tyler Hamilton.
McQuaid singled out former teammate David Zabriskie, who now rides for the Boulder-based Garmin-Sharp team.
“The story he told,” McQuaid said, “of how he was coerced and to some extent forced into doping is just mind-boggling.”
