Cycling’s governing body stripped cyclist Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour de France wins today. They also banned him for life, following a report that indicated Lance Armstrong was involved in a massive “doping” program.
BREAKING NEWS: Lance Armstrong stripped of his seven Tour de France titles & banned from cycling for life by the UCI. More reaction on #SSN
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) October 22, 2012
Lance Armstrong stripped of his seven Tour de France titles by the International Cycling Union. http://t.co/6KSalpQn
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) October 22, 2012
“Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling and he deserves to be forgotten in cycling,” McQuaid said at a news conference. “This is a landmark day for cycling.”
The decision clears the way for Tour de France organizers to officially remove Armstrong’s name from the record books, erasing his consecutive victories from 1999-2005.
…USADA said Armstrong should be banned and stripped of his Tour titles for “the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen” within his U.S. Postal Service and Discovery Channel teams.
Twitter was, of course, buzzing at the news. Some semi-defended Lance.
https://twitter.com/jaketw16/status/260346447965351937
There are a lot of accusations against Lance Armstrong…and none proven. He's guilty until proven guilty, even if proven not guilty.
— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) October 22, 2012
Others met the news with a big snooze.
The Tour de France is now retroactively even less interesting.
— Rick Sheridan (@RickSheridan) October 22, 2012
I'm not following this Lance Armstrong thing at all.
— Amelia (@AmeliaHammy) October 22, 2012
And still others met the news with some good, old-fashioned snark, as Twitter users are wont to do.
Bob Saget RT @BrianHughesDC: So, who should play Lance Armstrong in the inevitable movie?
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) October 22, 2012
Of course Lance Armstrong’s dumbest move was not becoming a javelin thrower. That’s like a guy called Legs Pedalwell not becoming a cyclist.
— Mark O'Connell (@mrkocnnll) October 22, 2012
Feeling low? Well say to yourself " I have the same amount of Tour de France titles as Lance Armstrong" as from today, you do.
— Rav Wilding (@RavWilding) October 22, 2012
https://twitter.com/richjamesmetro/status/260344497135824896
Piers Morgan had a similar thought regarding Mr. Armstrong’s Twitter bio.
Change your bio @lancearmstrong – you've just been stripped of your 7 Tour de France titles. #LiveWrong
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) October 22, 2012
Mr. Armstrong hasn’t tweeted since October 17, when he tweeted out a link to his statement announcing that he was stepping down as chairman of LiveStrong.
Official statement: @LanceArmstrong to Step Down as Chairman of @LIVESTRONG http://t.co/HLSebCTW
— Livestrong (@livestrong) October 17, 2012
His bio currently looks like this:
And Iowahawk brings it all home. What does this means for doping and Twitter?!
Is there a penalty for using tweet-enhancing drugs? I'm, uh, asking for a friend.
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) October 22, 2012
Heh. Twitchy will monitor this story and update with any further developments.
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