PARIS — The winner's list of the world's most prestigious cycling race, the Tour de France, is likely to have a seven-year gap, after organizers said Friday they were against re-attributing disgraced rider Lance Armstrong's wins. The development came as the sport's world governing body said it was studying the extensive dossier on the Texan as a “priority”, amid calls for its honorary president to quit and the possibility of legal action against three Spaniards implicated. Armstrong, who has consistently denied taking banned substances, was this week placed at the heart of what the USADA called “the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program” ever seen in sport. The organization announced on August 23 that Armstrong was guilty of doping violations and recommended he was stripped of his career victories, raising questions about who would replace him at the top of the Tour podium between 1999 and 2005. Tour director Christian Prudhomme said he was against re-allocating Armstrong's victories, describing the revelations contained in the USADA's 202-page “reasoned decision” and more than 1,000 pages of supporting testimony as “damning”. “What we want is that there is no winner,” he said in his first comments on the report, calling the period a “lost decade” for the sport, which has been trying to clean up its act in recent years. Prudhomme's statement comes even though the International Cycling Union (UCI) has not confirmed the USADA's findings but could head off further controversy. Replacing Armstrong as Tour winner has been a source of debate since August, given that the majority of those who finished second or third – and even lower down the field – have subsequently been implicated in doping scandals. Finding a rider untouched by links to performance-enhancing drug use would have been a difficult – if not impossible – task. Meanwhile, UCI president Pat McQuaid said it was still studying the USADA dossier against Armstrong. “The legal department has been told that this is a priority, that we get the job done as quickly as possible and certainly within that time frame we will be back,” he said on the sidelines of the Tour of Beijing. The UCI – under pressure to explain how drug cheats managed to avoid detection – has strenously denied claims from a former teammate of Armstrong that he donated money to cover-up a positive dope test in the 2001 Tour of Switzerland. British cyclist David Millar, who served a two-year doping ban but is now on the athletes' committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency, called for UCI honorary president Hein Verbruggen to resign in the wake of the revelations. The Dutchman was president of the UCI as Armstrong powered his way into the history books and last year said he was convinced the racer had “never, never, never” doped. Bruyneel out at RadioShack The RadioShack-Nissan team severed ties Friday with Lance Armstrong's former manager Johan Bruyneel after he was singled out as a central figure in the former Tour de France champion's doping program. The team said the decision was taken by “mutual agreement,” adding that Bruyneel “can no longer direct the team in an efficient and comfortable way.” “His departure is desirable to ensure the serenity and cohesiveness within the team,” RadioShack said in a statement. Bruyneel, who was general manager of the team, has his own legal battle with USADA and has opted to go to arbitration to fight charges that he led doping programs for Armstrong's teams. The RadioShack team's sponsors include longtime Armstrong backers Nike, Trek, Oakley and Livestrong. — Agencies
