AUSTIN, Texas – The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said its review board made a unanimous recommendation to file formal doping charges against Lance Armstrong.
That will move the case to an arbitration hearing if Armstrong chooses to challenge, as he has indicated he would.
USADA confirmed the board’s recommendation Friday after one of its members, Clark Griffith, said he “can’t wait” to see what the arbitration panel thinks of the evidence.
Armstrong said he’s innocent. His lawyer, Robert Luskin, called the decision to formally charge Armstrong “wrong and it is baseless.”
“It is the entirely predictable product of USADA’s toxic obsession with Lance Armstrong and a process in which truth is not a priority,” Luskin said. “There is not one shred of credible evidence to support USADA’s charges and an unbroken record of more than 500 clean tests over more than a decade and a half to refute it.”
USADA said it has evidence Armstrong was taking performance-enhancing drugs while winning the Tour de France from 1999-2005.
This year’s Tour begins today.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.