Claim: Lance Armstrong raced professionally.

Lance Edward Armstrong -LRB- born Lance Edward Gunderson on September 18 , 1971 -RRB- is an American former professional road racing cyclist . Armstrong is the 1993 professional world champion , and won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005 . However , in 2012 , he was banned from sanctioned Olympic sports for life as a result of long-term doping offenses . As part of those sanctions , all results going back to August 1998 , including his seven Tour wins , were voided .   At age 16 , Armstrong began competing as a triathlete and was a national sprint-course triathlon champion in 1989 and 1990 . In 1992 , Armstrong began his career as a professional cyclist with the Motorola team . He had notable success between 1993 and 1996 , including the World Championship in 1993 , Clásica de San Sebastián in 1995 , Tour DuPont in 1995 and 1996 , and a handful of stage victories in Europe , including stage 18 of the 1995 Tour de France .   In 1996 , he was diagnosed with a potentially fatal metastatic testicular cancer . After his recovery , he founded the Lance Armstrong Foundation -LRB- now the Livestrong Foundation -RRB- to assist other cancer survivors .   Returning to cycling in 1998 , he was a member of the US Postal/Discovery team between 1998 and 2005 , when he won his Tour de France titles , as well as a bronze medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics . Armstrong retired from racing at the end of the 2005 Tour de France , but returned to competitive cycling with the Astana team in January 2009 , finishing third in the 2009 Tour de France later that year . Between 2010 and 2011 , he raced with Team Radio Shack , the UCI ProTeam he helped found . He retired for a second time in 2011 .   Armstrong had been the subject of doping allegations ever since winning the 1999 Tour de France . In 2012 , a United States Anti-Doping Agency investigation concluded that Armstrong had used performance-enhancing drugs over the course of his career and named him as the ringleader of `` the most sophisticated , professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen . '' Armstrong chose not to contest the charges , citing the potential toll on his family . As a result , he received a lifetime ban from all sports that follow the World Anti-Doping Code -- effectively ending his competitive career . He was also stripped of all of his achievements from August 1998 onward , including his seven Tour de France titles . The Union Cycliste Internationale upheld USADA 's decision and decided that his stripped wins would not be allocated to other riders . Armstrong chose not to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport . In a 2013 interview , Armstrong confessed that some of the allegations were true . He has declined to testify about the full extent of his use of the drugs . In the aftermath of his fall from grace , a CNN article wrote that `` The epic downfall of cycling 's star , once an idolized icon of millions around the globe , stands out in the history of professional sports . ''