(Reuters)
CYCLE-OGICAL PROBLEM: Lance Armstrong tweeted this picture of himself relaxing in the trophy room where his seven ill-gotten Tour de France jerseys hang. (
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Take them down and box them up, Lance.
Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong tweeted a brazen photo of himself on Saturday lying next to his seven ill-gained Tour de France victory jerseys — tokens of titles that were ultimately stripped from him due to doping allegations.
“Back in Austin and just layin’ around,” he wrote to his nearly 4 million followers, thumbing his nose at investigators and his critics.
And it was revealed yesterday that he quietly resigned from the board of his Livestrong cancer-fighting charity on Nov. 4 — completely severing ties with the organization he founded.
Armstrong stepped down as chairman on Oct. 17, but clung to a seat on its board of directors.
But his successor as chairman, Jeff Garvey, announced yesterday that Armstrong made the decision to spare Livestrong — best known for its distinctive yellow bracelets — from more ugly fallout from his cheating scandal.
Garvey said Armstrong “was instrumental in changing the way the world views people affected by cancer.”
Livestrong spokeswoman Katherine McLane said Armstrong, a cancer survivor, “remains the inspiration” and is still its largest donor with nearly $7 million over the years.
She said Armstrong has not completely cut ties with Livestrong, which he founded 15 years ago. But “his visibility will be reduced,” she told Agence France Presse.
Last month, the US Anti-Doping Agency ordered Armstrong banned from the sport for life.
Then the International Cycling Union — which had initially supported him — agreed to wipe out Armstrong’s record seven Tour de France victories.
Commercial sponsors like Nike and Anheuser-Busch bailed out on Armstrong in droves.
He hasn’t commented publicly on the scathing Anti-Doping Agency report, which said he helped run “the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen.”
The report included statements from 11 former teammates who testified against Armstrong.
The report drew new praise — and Armstrong drew criticism — from French Sports Minister Valérie Fourneyron yesterday.
The agency’s “exceptional” work “led to the fall of a man who pretended to be the world’s best cyclist — but, in fact, was nothing but the biggest cheat,” Fourneyron told reporters in Paris.
Fourneyron denounced Armstrong’s tweeted photo as “a further provocation, without any doubt.”
The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, John Fahey, said despite all the attention given to Armstrong, the scandal indicates there is a much bigger problem with sports cheating.
“Do I feel we’re winning the fight? The answer is no,” Fahey said. “I think what [the] Armstrong [case] tells me is, bubbling away below the surface there are still problems that could surface at any time.”
“Are we cleaner?” he said. “Look, this is a fight sadly that will never be won.”