On August 24, 2012, Lance Pugmire wrote in the Los Angeles Times the article "USADA strips Lance Armstrong's Tour de France victories." On Friday, August 24, 2012, the U.S Anti-Doping Agency striped Lance Armstrong, a former American professional road racing cyclist, of all seven Tour de France, the world's greatest cycling competition, titles that he won between 1999-2005. He was alleged of blood-doping and using steroids, with the proof of test results and numerous witnesses, to whom he offered and encouraged to use the same illegal substances that he was using. The peculiar aspect of this story is the fact that Armstrong never tested positive for any of the alleged substances during his races. However, instead of denying the allegations, just as how he had been doing since 1999, he decided to voluntarily not fight against the charges. Besides the punishment of being striped of all his Tour de France titles, Armstrong has been banned from a lifetime of competition. Armstrong and the International Cycling Union are questioning wether or not the USADA have the authority to take such an action. The USADA justified their decision by releasing the statement which said, “Because Mr. Armstrong could have had a hearing before neutral arbitrators to contest USADA’s evidence and sanction and he voluntarily chose not to do so, USADA’s sanction is final.” I do not agree with the decisions the USADA has taken against Lance Armstrong. I believe Armstrong has deserved every title he has achieved, especially after having battled with testicular cancer. If during the actual races Armstrong was not tested positive in random drug tests, then the accounts of witnesses, some of which include his former cyclist teammates, and blood tests taken after the races should not count.
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