A short biography of Lance Armstrong
1971: Born September 18th, in Dallas.
1991: Becomes US national amateur champion.
1993: US national champion. Wins first stage in Tour de France but fails to finish. Beats Miguel Indurain to win world championship.
1994: Wins Liege-Bastogne-Liege spring classic.
1996: Diagnosed with testicular cancer. Founds Lance Armstrong Foundation for Cancer.
1997: Declared cancer-free after brain surgery and chemotherapy. Signs with US Postal Service team after being dropped by Cofidis.
1998: Wins Tours of Holland and Luxembourg.
1999: Claims first Tour de France title, winning four stages.
2000: Wins second Tour. Secures time-trial bronze in Sydney Olympics.
2001: Victorious in Tour of Switzerland. Becomes only the fifth rider to win three Tour de France titles in a row.
2002: Wins Dauphine Libere and Midi Libre. Becomes only the fourth person to win four successive Tour de France titles.
2003: Equals the record of five victories in the Tour de France.
2004: Clinches record sixth Tour de France victory.
2005: Wins seventh Tour de France, before retiring.
2008: Announces he will return to professional cycling.
2009: Suffers a broken right collarbone in March, but appears in first Giro d’Italia in May, finishing 12th. Alberto Contador claims a second Tour title, while Armstrong finishes third. Armstrong announces he will launch his own squad in 2010, Team Radio Shack.
2010: Armstrong’s former US Postal team-mate Floyd Landis, who was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title for doping, launches allegations at the Texan. Finishes final Tour in 23rd place.
2011: Announces retirement for second time and forced to deny claims made by former team-mate Tyler Hamilton that they took performance-enhancing drugs together.
2012: February – An investigation into alleged doping by Armstrong is dropped by federal prosecutors in California.
June – The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) confirm they will file formal doping charges against Armstrong.
July – Armstrong files a lawsuit in a US federal court asking for a temporary restraining order against the agency. Armstrong also claims the USADA offered “corrupt inducements” to other cyclists to testify against him. Armstrong refiles lawsuit against the USADA after initial lawsuit was dismissed by a judge as being a “lengthy and bitter polemic”, designed to attract media attention and public sympathy.
August – Armstrong’s legal action against the USADA dismissed in court.
Yesterday – Armstrong announces he will not fight the doping charges filed against him by the USADA, saying in a statement he is “finished with this nonsense” and insisting he is innocent. He is stripped of all his titles and banned for life from cycling by USADA.
