Armstrong rules out return to competitive cycling

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Worn down by doping scandals an
exhausted Lance Armstrong said on Thursday he had decided
against a return to competitive cycling.

Angry over recent doping allegations that have appeared in
the French sports daily L’Equipe, the seven-times Tour de
France winner said recently he might return to racing, the
accusations out of France having awoken his competitive side.

But as the doping controversy continued to swirl on
Thursday, Armstrong who turns 34 on Sunday, dismissed any
thought of a comeback, saying he will stay retired.

“I’m happy with the way my career ended. I’m not going
back,” Armstrong was quoted in USA Today. “I’m sick of this.

“I opened it back up because in my heart it seemed like the
right answer. But now I know I couldn’t go to France and get a
fair shake on the road, in doping control or the hotels.”

Armstrong was thrust into the center of another doping
scandal last month after L’Equipe reported it had proof that
six of Armstrong’s urine samples collected on the 1999 Tour de
France showed traces of the banned substance EPO
(erythropoietin).

There were no tests to detect EPO, a drug that increases
the level of red blood cells and endurance, in 1999.

However, samples from the 1999 Tour de France were kept and
have been recently retested by a laboratory outside Paris.

Armstrong, who survived cancer, has steadfastly denied ever
taking performance-enhancing drugs.