(Reuters) – No one will replace Lance Armstrong as winner of the Tour de France from 1999-2005 after the American was stripped of the titles for doping, the International Cycling Union (UCI) said today.
“With respect to Lance Armstrong and the implications of the USADA sanctions which it endorsed on Monday 22 October, the Management Committee decided not to award victories to any other rider or upgrade other placings in any of the affected events,” the UCI said in a statement.
Armstrong was formally stripped of his seven titles on Monday when the UCI ratified the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s decision to ban the 41-year-old Texan for life and nullify his results from Aug. 1998 onward.
The UCI also said it was setting up an independent commission to investigate allegations made against the UCI over the Armstrong affair.
The governing body agreed that part of the commission’s remit would be to find ways to ensure that anyone caught doping would no longer be able to take part in the sport, even as a non-rider in a team.
It also announced it was suspending legal action against journalist Paul Kimmage pending the findings of the commission.