Lance Armstrong faces the prospect of losing his Tour de France titles after the US Anti-Doping Agency began legal proceedings against him.
The USADA revealed on Wednesday night it had sent Armstrong written notification regarding "allegations of anti-doping rule violations" during his time with the United States Postal Service (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 record-breaking seven Tour titles he won while with USPS.
"I have been notified that USADA, an organisation largely funded by taxpayer dollars but governed only by self-written rules, intends to again dredge up discredited allegations dating back more than 16 years to prevent me from competing as a triathlete and try and strip me of the seven Tour de France victories I earned," Armstrong said.
"These are the very same charges and the same witnesses that the Justice Department chose not to pursue after a two-year investigation. These charges are baseless, motivated by spite and advanced through testimony bought and paid for by promises of anonymity and immunity.
"Although USADA alleges a wide-ranging conspiracy extended over more than 16 years, I am the only athlete it has chosen to charge. USADA's malice, its methods, its star-chamber practices, and its decision to punish first and adjudicate later all are at odds with our ideals of fairness and fair play.
"I have never doped, and, unlike many of my accusers, I have competed as an endurance athlete for 25 years with no spike in performance, passed more than 500 drug tests and never failed one.
"That USADA ignores this fundamental distinction and charges me instead of the admitted dopers says far more about USADA, its lack of fairness and this vendetta than it does about my guilt or innocence."
Following those comments the USADA released their own statement to confirm the charges, which immediately prevent Armstrong from competing as a triathlete - the sport he took up following his retirement from cycling in 2011.
"In response to numerous inquiries regarding the public statements made by Mr Lance Armstrong, we can confirm that written notice of allegations of anti-doping rule violations was sent yesterday to him and to five additional individuals all formerly associated with the United States Postal Service (USPS) professional cycling team," the statement said.
"These individuals include three team doctors and two team officials.
"This formal notice letter is the first step in the multi-step legal process for alleged sport anti-doping rule violations."
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 US Postal Service 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, taking up triathlon earlier this year.
Update:
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Kenny Turner
11:43pm on 14/6/2012
Lance is clean. Leave the guy alone; what more must he do to prove he is just one heck-of-a gifted athlete? The Tour (de France) have been using strong-arm and, frankly, dubious tactics to weed-out drug-cheats over the past ten years - including waking riders from sleep, threatening behaviour etc - it's simply ridiculous to imagine that Lance somehow managed to waltz-through all of their very stringent tests when he was meant to be doped-up. C'mon! Hey, you know what? This is all wonderful publicity for the man and his bank balance. Good. I trust this dude.