I don't know if Lance Armstrong took a banned substance or not - and frankly, I don't care. If there is anyone who could be given a free pass for taking a banned substance, it would probably be Armstong. He beat cancer and then returned to become one of the best cyclists in the world. That's ridiculous. And even as he has now been stripped of his Tour de France titles, he still serves as an inspiration to people around the world, especially those who are battling cancer.
So cycling took its most successful figure and pulled him down into the mud with the rest of the sport. Professional cycling is so corrupt it's laughable, even more so than Track & Field. In a sport that you would think to be relatively pure because of its very nature, cycling has regular suspensions, bans, and stripping of victories because of blood doping, taking banned substances, and other illegal tactics to gain a competitive advantage. A great example of how pathetic the integrity of the sport is would be how Jan Ullrich of Germany should now be awarded three Tour de France titles for finishing runner up to Armstrong. Only problem with that is that Ullrich has already been stripped of his runner up titles for doping.
So the USADA has proven its point - Lance Armstrong was dirty. I don't necessarily believe them but I think it's funny that they are so determined to bring Armstrong down. It actually seems like it was a relatively equal playing field since almost all of the cyclists seem to be doping. And at the end of the day, what was actually accomplished from this announcement?