Armstrong Cleared of Steroid Allegations

May 31, 2006

Christopher Cornell - All Headline News Contributor

Amsterdam, Netherlands (AHN) - The seven-time winner of cycling's biggest prize, the Tour de France, has been exonerated of doping allegations. Lance Armstrong was cleared of doping allegations by an independent investigation on Wednesday.

In August of this year, L'Equipe, a French sports daily newspaper, published an article claiming that six of Lance Armstrong's urine samples from 1999 came back positive when retested for the hormone EPO. EPO is used for endurance-boosting.

Independent Dutch investigators led by Dutch lawyer, Emile Vrijman, were hired by the International Cycling Union back in October of last year to look into the claims. The investigation cleared Armstrong with respect to any doping activity, and blamed anti-doping authorities for misconduct in the way they dealt with Armstrong.

According to the AP, the 132 page report went on to further recommend that a committee be formed in order to discuss legal and ethical violations by the World Anti-Doping Agency, and to discuss possible punishment.

Armstrong has won seven consecutive Tour de Frances' from 1999-2005.