Lance Armstrong Officially Loses All His Tour de France Titles

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It's official that Lance Armstrong loses all his seven Tour de France titles. "Today, the UCI made the right decision in the Lance Armstrong case," Travis Tygart, the CEO of USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency), said in a statement on Monday, October 22. "There are many more details of doping that are hidden, many more doping doctors, and corrupt team directors and the omerta has not yet been fully broken."

UCI (International Cycling Union) supports USADA's decision. "Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling and he deserves to be forgotten in cycling," said Pat McQuaid, the president of the federation. "This is a landmark day for cycling."

Last year, the 41-year-old athlete declared his retirement. He collected his titles from 1999-2005 and it made him enlisted in the Guinness book. Since he is now stripped of his Tour de France titles, his name will be removed. Earlier this month, he also lost his sponsorship with Nike.

The USADA claimed that the 2009 and 2010 blood samples Lance took showed that he used doping. It's also said that he encouraged his teams to do the same. He denied the accusation ever since, but decided earlier this year not to continue fighting back because he was tired of everything and wanted to focus on his family and cancer foundation.

On August 23, Lance said, "I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999. 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."

He added, "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. We all raced together. The toughest event in the world where the strongest man wins. Nobody can ever change that. Especially not Travis Tygart."