Doping, Cycling & Steroids | featured news

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.

Lance Armstrong stepped down as chairman of his Livestrong cancer-fighting charity and Nike severed ties with him as fallout from the doping scandal swirling around the famed cyclist escalated Wednesday.

Lance Armstrong says he will no longer fight charges from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that he used performance-enhancing drugs during his unprecedented cycling career, a decision that could put his string of seven Tour de France titles at risk.

A federal judge in Austin, Texas, threw out Lance Armstrong's lawsuit against the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency on Monday, a decision that allows the agency's drug case against the seven-time Tour de France winner to move ahead....

Lance Armstrong filed a federal lawsuit Monday aimed at preventing the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency from moving ahead with charges that he used performance-enhancing drugs during his record-setting career. Armstrong’s lawsuit says USADA rules violate athletes’ constitutional right to a fair trial, and that the agency doesn’t have jurisdiction in his case. It also accuses USADA’s chief executive, Travis Tygart, of waging a personal vendetta against the cancer survivor who won the Tour de France every year from 1999 to 2005.

The United States Anti-Doping Agency initiated a procedure against Lance Armstrong with a time frame for allegations that began in 1996 and continued through 2010.

Federal prosecutors closed an investigation of the seven-time winner of the Tour de France nearly two years after they began looking into allegations of illegal doping.

The director of the Swiss anti-doping laboratory informed federal authorities last fall that Lance Armstrong's test results from the 2001 Tour de Suisse were "suspicious" and "consistent with EPO use," The Associated Press has learned....

Lance Armstrong's former teammate, Tyler Hamilton, says Armstrong and other team leaders encouraged, promoted and took part in a doping program in an effort to win the Tour de France in 1999 and beyond, according to a report aired Sunday night on "60 Minutes."

In most sports, times shrink, but in the Tour de France, progress against drugs may be measured in rising times.