Key passages from Lance Armstrong’s statement

THERE comes a point in every man’s life when he has to say, “Enough is enough”. For me, that time is now. I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999.

I refuse to participate in a process that is so one-sided and unfair. The only physical evidence here is the hundreds of controls I have passed with flying colours. I made myself available around the clock and around the world. In-competition. Out of competition. Blood. Urine. Whatever they asked for I provided. What is the point of all this testing if, in the end, USADA will not stand by it?

From the beginning, however, this investigation has not been about learning the truth or cleaning up cycling, but about punishing me at all costs.

The idea that athletes can be convicted without positive A and B samples, under the same rules and procedures that apply to athletes with positive tests, perverts the system and creates a process where any begrudged ex-teammate can open a USADA case out of spite or for personal gain or a cheating cyclist can cut a sweetheart deal for themselves.

I know who won those seven Tours, everyone I competed against knows who won those seven Tours. We all raced together. For three weeks over the same roads, the same mountains, and against all the elements. Today I turn the page. I will no longer address this issue, regardless of the circumstances. I will commit myself to the work I began before winning a single Tour de France title: serving people and families affected by cancer.