UCI won’t award Armstrong’s titles to any runners-up

PanARMENIAN.Net - Cycling’s ruling body won’t award the titles stripped from Lance Armstrong for doping to any runners-up, which include Jan Ullrich, who was also found to be using drugs to cheat, Bloomberg reports.

The Union Cycliste Internationale, which on Oct 22 endorsed a decision to strip Armstrong of his record seven Tour de France wins, said in an e-mailed statement that a “cloud of suspicion would remain hanging over this dark period.”

Armstrong, who has denied doping for more than a decade, declined to contest doping allegations presented by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

Germany’s Ullrich, a three-time runner-up to Armstrong between 1999 and 2005, was found guilty of blood doping in February this year. Switzerland’s Alex Zuelle, Joseba Beloki of Spain, Germany’s Andreas Kloeden and Ivan Basso also finished second to Armstrong in those years. Basso, an Italian, has served a two-year doping ban.

The UCI said it was calling for Armstrong and riders found to have used drugs to cheat by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to return prize money they received. The French cycling federation estimates Armstrong, 41, won about 3 million euros ($3.9 million) in prizes during his career.

The UCI said it would ask another sports body to set up an external commission to look into allegations about how the cycling authority handled issues relating to Armstrong, which include accepting financial donations.

The commission, which will report its findings before June 2013, will be asked to find ways to ban people caught doping from participating in any part of professional cycling, the UCI said.