Former world cycling champion Lance Armstrong made updates to his Twitter account by removing description about his Tour de France titles. It happened in the immediate aftermath of a decision made by International Cycling Union on Monday. The union has decided unanimously that the sportsman be stripped of all his seven titles that he won during his pursuit of winning Tour de France campaigns. Earlier, the Twitter account of the famed cyclist’s account read like “7-time Tour de France winner” that has been missing at present. There have been a lot of rumblings going on about the decision to be taken in the case of Armstrong ever since he tested positive.
After the announcement came against Armstrong as expected by most of the sporting critics, any hopes of the cyclist regarding a decision reversal met with severe jolt after the UCI went to add that they were handing a lifetime ban upon him. During a press conference held on Monday, the decision was made official to the whole world. Interestingly, the Twitter account of Armstrong had an updated status that read “Raising my 5 kids. Fighting Cancer. Swim, bike, run and golf whenever I can.” The cycling world is yet to come to terms with all these turnout of events.
Previously, the 41-year-old has already stated that he has no regrets regarding whatever decision the union or any other governing body has to take. The US Anti-Doping Agency has accused Armstrong for orchestrating a planned programme of doping in a sophisticated manner. In contrast, the former world champion had come back heavily upon those who criticize him. For all these years, he has been a great sporting icon for all those who were fighting different levels of injuries in order to play games with a great determination.
Lance Armstrong was hailed as one of the great sportspersons and was even a huge inspiration for several others. According to the cyclist, it is the USADA that hatched a plan by resorting to a rig against him. In fact, he feels that it is like a ‘witch hunt’ launched against him because of which the witnesses were forced to break before the law agencies in favor of the USADA. Meanwhile, there appears more damage in store for the famed sportsperson from a financial perspective. It is now the firms that would like to get back their money paid in the form of bonuses.
One of such firms is a company based in Texas that has already paid several millions in bonuses to promote their marketing strategies after he won Tour de France titles. There has been no major controversy in the whole issue as Armstrong has not defended his stand creating an impact that the steroid allegations were indeed true. This has resulted in the UCI taking a decision against the cyclist without even going for any further appeal. Criticism has been pouring from several quarters of which some feel that Armstrong deserves no place in the cycling world and he is just a commoner now whom people should forget.
