Lance Armstrong

Lance Edward Armstrong (born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. Armstrong was classified as having won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times between 1999 and 2005 before he was disqualified from all those races and banned from competitive cycling for life, for doping offenses by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) in 2012, after the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) presented its findings. A cancer survivor, he is the founder of the Livestrong Foundation, originally called the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which provides support for cancer patients.

At age 16, Armstrong began competing as a triathlete and was a national sprint-course triathlon champion in 1989 and 1990. In 1992, Armstrong began his career as a professional cyclist with the Motorola team. He had notable success between 1993 and 1996, including the World Championship in 1993, Clásica de San Sebastián in 95, Tour DuPont in 95 and 96, and a handful of stage victories in Europe, including stage 18 of the 1995 Tour de France.

In October 1996, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer that had spread to his brain, lungs and abdomen. His cancer treatments included brain and testicular surgery and extensive chemotherapy. In February 1997, he was declared cancer-free and the same year he founded the Lance Armstrong Foundation. By January 1998, Armstrong had renewed serious cycling training, having signed a new racing contract with US Postal. He was a member of the US Postal/Discovery team between 1998 and 2005. On July 24, 2005, Armstrong retired from racing at the end of the 2005 Tour de France, but returned to competitive cycling with the Astana team in January 2009. Between 2010 and 2011, he raced with the UCI ProTeam he helped found, Team Radio Shack.

On February 16, 2011, Armstrong announced his retirement from competitive cycling. At the time he was facing a US federal investigation into doping allegations. In June 2012, USADA charged Armstrong with having used illicit performance-enhancing drugs. On August 24, 2012, USADA announced that Armstrong had been issued a lifetime ban from competition, applicable to all sports which follow the World Anti-Doping Agency code. USADA also stripped Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles. The USADA report concluded that Armstrong engaged in "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen." On October 22, 2012, the UCI upheld USADA's decision. It also decided that his stripped wins would not be allocated to other riders. Armstrong chose not to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Despite having denied drug use throughout his career, in January 2013, Armstrong admitted to doping in a television interview conducted by Oprah Winfrey. In September 2013, he was asked by UCI's new president, Brian Cookson, to testify completely about his doping. Armstrong refused to testify until and unless he got a complete amnesty, which Cookson said is most unlikely to happen.

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