Cycling legend Lance Armstrong’s team ran “the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme the sport has ever seen” according to a report by the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

In its report, Usada said Armstrong, 41, “engaged in serial cheating” associated with doping.

The report contains testimony from 11 of his ex-US Postal Service team-mates.

He has always denied doping allegations but has not contested Usada’s charges.

Armstrong’s lawyer has described Usada’s report as a “one-sided hatchet job”.

“We have seen the press release from Usada touting the upcoming release today of its ‘reasoned decision,'” said Sean Breen.

“[The] statement confirms the alleged ‘reasoned decision’ from Usada will be a one-sided hatchet job – a taxpayer-funded tabloid piece rehashing old, disproved, unreliable allegations based largely on axe-grinders, serial perjurers, coerced testimony, sweetheart deals and threat-induced stories.”

In an statement accompanying their report,  Usada chief executive Travis T Tygart said there was “conclusive and undeniable proof” of a team-run doping conspiracy.

The organisation has sent its “reasoned decision” document  in the Armstrong case to the International Cycling Union (UCI), the World Anti-Doping Agency and the World Triathlon Corporation.

In it, Usada say it has “found proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Lance Armstrong engaged in serial cheating through the use, administration and trafficking of performance-enhancing drugs and methods that Armstrong participated in running in the US Postal Service Team as a doping conspiracy”.

It adds: “His [Armstrong’s] goal [of winning the Tour de France multiple times] led him to depend on EPO, testosterone and blood transfusions but also, more ruthlessly, to expect and to require that his team-mates would likewise use drugs to support his goals if not their own.

“It was not enough that his team-mates give maximum effort on the bike, he also required that they adhere to the doping programme outlined for them or be replaced.

“He was not just a part of the doping culture on his team, he enforced and re-enforced it.

“Armstrong’s use of drugs was extensive, and the doping programme on his team, designed in large part to benefit Armstrong, was massive and pervasive.

“Armstrong and his co-conspirators sought to achieve their ambitions through a massive fraud now more fully exposed. So ends one of the most sordid chapters in sports history.”

The UCI now has 21 days to lodge an appeal against Usada’s decision with Wada or it must comply with the decision to strip Armstrong, who now competes in triathlons, of his seven Tour de France titles and ban him for life.

Armstrong, who overcame cancer to return to professional cycling, won the Tour from 1999 to 2005. He retired in 2005 but returned in 2009 before retiring for good two years later.

Usada claim the evidence against Armstrong was “beyond strong” and stretched to more than 1,000 pages – which includes sworn testimony from 26 people, including 15 riders with knowledge of the US Postal Service Team and its participants’ doping activities.

“It is as strong as, or stronger than, that presented in any case brought by Usada over the initial 12 years of [its] existence,” it said.

Among the former team-mates of Armstrong’s to testify were George Hincapie, Tyler Hamilton and Floyd Landis, who was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title for failing a dope test and was recently found guilty in a Swiss court of defaming the UCI for alleging they had protected Armstrong from doping claims.

Usada praised the “courage” shown by the 11 riders in coming forward and breaking the “code of silence”.

It said: “Lance Armstrong and his handlers engaged in a massive and long-running scheme to use drugs, cover their tracks, intimidate witnesses, tarnish reputations, lie to hearing panels and the press and do whatever was necessary to conceal the truth.”

Tygart added: “The riders who participated in the USPS Team doping conspiracy and truthfully assisted have been courageous in making the choice to stop perpetuating the sporting fraud, and they have suffered greatly.

“I have personally talked with and heard these athletes’ stories and firmly believe that, collectively, these athletes, if forgiven and embraced, have a chance to leave a legacy far greater for the good of the sport than anything they ever did on a bike.

“Lance Armstrong was given the same opportunity to come forward and be part of the solution. He rejected it.

“Instead he exercised his legal right not to contest the evidence and knowingly accepted the imposition of a ban from recognised competition for life and disqualification of his competitive results from 1998 forward.”

Usada confirmed that two other members of the US Postal Service team, Dr Michele Ferrari and Dr Garcia del Moral, have also received lifetime bans for their part in the doping conspiracy.

Three further members – team director Johan Bruyneel, a team doctor Dr Pedro Celaya and team trainer Jose Marti – have chosen to contest the charges and take their cases to arbitration.

Tygart also called on the UCI to “act on its own recent suggestion for a meaningful Truth and Reconciliation programme”.

“Hopefully, the sport can unshackle itself from the past, and once and for all continue to move forward to a better future,” he added.

For more on this story go to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/19903716