Armstrong titles on line

Lance Armstrong was facing the prospect of losing his record-breaking total of seven Tour de France titles after the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) confirmed they had begun legal proceedings against the former cyclist.

The USADA revealed last night it had sent Armstrong written notification regarding “allegations of anti-doping rule violations” during his time with the United States PostalService (USPS) cycling team.

The USADA confirmation came hours after Armstrong, 40, had released a statement of his own to angrily deny the claims, which, if proved, could see him stripped of the Tour titles he won while with USPS.