Armstrong challenges US Anti-Doping Agency

The USADA initiated legal proceedings over “allegations of anti-doping rule violations” against the seven-time Tour de France winner earlier this month, with Armstrong’s time at the United States Postal Service (USPS) cycling team again coming under renewed scrutiny.

The claims, if proved, could see him stripped of the Tour titles he won while with USPS.

But Armstrong hit out shortly before the USADA sent him written notification, saying the agency were dredging up discredited accusations.

And the 40-year-old continued to maintain his innocence, with his lawyer Robert Luskin publishing a statement on Saturday night calling for the Review Board to dismiss the proceedings unless any evidence was available.

“Just two months shy of the Olympic Games, the agency charged with monitoring Olympic athletes has chosen (instead) to devote its energies instead to 14-year-old charges against an athlete who is not even involved in the upcoming Games and who has never tested positive for the use of performance-enhancing drugs,” wrote Luskin.

“Because USADA has given the Review Board no reason to believe that it can prove those charges – much less an excuse to subject Mr Armstrong to burdensome litigation just to find out – the Review Board should reject the charges.

“If the Review Board is not willing to do that, at a minimum, it should suspend consideration of this matter until all such evidence has been produced and Mr Armstrong receives a reasonable opportunity to review it and respond.”

Armstrong survived testicular cancer early in his career and went on to win seven consecutive Tour de France titles from 1999 to 2005 while competing for the USPS team and the Discovery Channel team.

He retired after the 2005 Tour de France, but returned in 2009, riding for Astana Cycling and RadioShack before retiring for a second time in February 2011.