Tagged: U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA)

USA Today sports columnist Christine Brennan writes that:

"Lance Armstrong and U.S. Anti-Doping CEO Travis Tygart met for more than an hour in early to mid-December to discuss the possibility of a public admission that the banned cyclist used performance-enhancing drugs and blood transfusions during his long career, a person with knowledge of the meeting said Wednesday morning."

The news that disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong might be willing to confess to the doping charges he spent years denying has reopened interest in his case — and in the question of whether his lifetime ban from competitive sports could be eased in exchange for Armstrong's cooperation.

The story of Lance Armstrong's alleged doping is, in part, the story of an astonishing business enterprise — an enterprise that drove what the U.S. anti-doping agency called "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program" cycling has ever seen.

The story of that enterprise starts in 1998, when the Festina cycling team was caught at the Tour de France with a car full of banned drugs. According to author Daniel Coyle, this marked a huge shift in the culture of doping in cycling.