Armstrong’s victories will not be reallocated

PARIS - Lance Armstrong’s seven Tour de France titles will not be awarded to any other riders, the International Cycling Union has announced.Armstrong was stripped of his yellow jerseys for doping by cycling’s governing body on Monday.“The management committee decided not to award victories to any other rider or upgrade other placings in any of the affected events,” said a UCI statement.The UCI acknowledged that “a cloud of suspicion would remain hanging over this dark period - but that while this might appear harsh for those who rode clean, they would understand there was little honour to be gained in reallocating places”.The body has also ordered Armstrong and others to pay back all prize money from this period, and has commissioned an independent investigation into the whole Armstrong affair. Pending the results of the report, defamation proceedings against Paul Kimmage, a former cyclist and Sunday Times journalist, have been suspended.The statement added: “The committee agreed that part of the independent commission’s remit would be to find ways to ensure that persons caught for doping were no longer able to take part in the sport, including as part of an entourage.”Armstrong, 41, and his United States Postal Service team ran “the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen”, a 1,000-page United States Anti-Doping Agency report concluded.In the report, it was also claimed that Armstrong paid the UCI $100,000 (£62,300) for the fight against anti-doping.Floyd Landis, a former colleague of Armstrong’s who now admits to using drugs, claims this was hush money to cover up a positive test for the banned substance EPO that was collected from Armstrong during his victory at the Tour of Switzerland in 2001.The UCI admitted it received money from Armstrong in 2002, but said in 2010 that this was not part of a cover-up. Agencies