COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (VELO NEWS) — Lance Armstrong announced Thursday that he would drop his fight against charges by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that he used performance-enhancing drugs during his career, and that he and others were part of a doping conspiracy spanning years.
The Associated Press broke the story Thursday evening.
In a statement sent to the AP, Armstrong said: "Today I turn the page. I will no longer address this issue, regardless of the circumstances. I will commit myself to the work I began before ever winning a single Tour de France title: serving people and families affected by cancer, especially those in underserved communities."
His statement reiterated many of the arguments rejected on Monday when U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks dismissed Armstrong's lawsuit against USADA, allowing the agency's doping case against the seven-time winner of the Tour de France to continue.
In his ruling, Sparks wrote that despite what he termed USADA's "woefully inadequate charging letter," Armstrong's challenges regarding due process were "without merit" and dismissed without prejudice "for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted."
The ruling stated further that Armstrong's remaining claims were "best resolved through the well-established system of international arbitration, by those with expertise in the field, rather than by the unilateral edict of a single nation's courts. …"
The 40-year-old Armstrong, who retired in 2011, had the options of appealing in federal court, proceeding with arbitration or accepting USADA's sanctions for what the agency has called "a doping conspiracy" involving the former pro cyclist and associates at his former U.S. Postal Service team.
