Nike Drops Lance Armstrong From Endorsement Deal

WASHINGTON: Trek, the company that made the bicycles Lance Armstrong rode to seven Tour de France titles, announced Wednesday it was joining Nike and Anheuser-Busch in terminating its sponsorship contract with the disgraced rider. Armstrong was issued a life ban and stripped of his titles in August by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), which last week revealed 1,000 pages of evidence against him, including testimony from 11 former teammates. "Trek is disappointed by the findings and conclusions in the USADA report regarding Lance Armstrong," a statement from the bicycle manufacturer said.For years, Lance Armstrong carried a growing burden of doping accusations up increasingly steep hills, accumulating fans, wealth and respect along the way. On Wednesday, he crashed. In one day, the renowned cyclist and cancer survivor lost a major endorsement deal with Nike -- once worth millions of dollars -- and the chairmanship of the cancer charity he founded 15 years ago. While stepping down as chairman of Livestrong was Armstrong's idea, losing Nike's support wasn't.A 17-year-old sports fan I know named Evan who survived a rare form of heart cancer still wore his yellow Livestrong bracelet to school Wednesday. To the socially attuned teenager, the rubber wristband always will represent the strength it required to fight cancer last year more than a symbol of Lance Armstrong, cycling fraud. Not even Nike dropping Armstrong for his connection to a doping scandal or Armstrong resigning as chairman of his foundation can change that. "It's kind of a Catch-22,'' Evan told me. "I don't know if you can separate Lance the philanthropist who did so much for cancer survivors and Lance the cyclist. But if anyone's ends justify the means, it is Lance Armstrong's.'