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Lance Armstrong leaves Livestrong board... while his maillot jaune picture inspires Photoshop parodies

Disgraced cyclist steps down as director just three weeks after resigning as chairman

Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, who last month stepped down as chairman of Livestrong, has now resigned from the board of the charity he founded 15 years ago after recovering from cancer. Meanwhile, a picture Armstrong posted on Twitter showing him reclining on a sofa at home with the seven framed Tour de France maillot jaunes he has now been stripped of quickly had some users of the social network firing up Photoshop to create their own versions.

On Saturday, Armstrong posted a picture to Twitter showing him reclining on a sofa in the media and games room of his Texas home, surrounded by framed yellow jerseys complete with race numbers from each of those editions of the Tour, with the caption “Back in Austin and just layin' around...”

The rather pointed staging of the picture provoked outrage among some fans on Twitter but no small amount of mirth in others, with Photoshop skills quickly employed to put a rather different spin on things by users of the social network including Max Bolen and Martijn Mast.

It seems unlikely, as he looks up at those jerseys, that the US Postal logo plastered across the front of most of them will remind Armstrong that he needs to pop down to the post office to send them back.

Armstrong’s departure of the board of the Livestrong Foundation is seen as a damage limitation exercise on the charity’s part as it tries to reconcile its fundraising efforts going forward with the exposure as a drugs cheat of the man who founded it as the Lance Armstrong Foundation in 1997.

A spokeswoman for the Livestrong Foundation, Katherine McLane, confirmed that Armstrong’s final day as a board member was 4 November, reports the Dallas Morning News today.

He had stepped down as chairman on 19 October, the same day that Nike led the exodus of personal sponsors of Armstrong although the sportswear firm, like some other sponsors, said it would still support the charity.

At the time, Armstrong said he would continue to be a director of Livestrong, but the fact he has now also left that role just three weeks later suggests his continued involvement with it was seen as untenable.

Quoted in the Dallas Morning News, McLane said: “Lance remains the creator and inspiration of the Livestrong foundation and for its mission — providing free financial, practical and emotional support services for cancer survivors and their families.”

Steve Schooner, a 52-year-old law professor and cancer survivor who took part in a bike ride with Armstrong in 2009 after raising $50,000 for Livestrong said that he would continue to support the charity but pointed out the difficulties it faces in disassociating itself from its founder.

“It'll take years until people think of it as something other than being” Armstrong's charity,” he explained. 

“He is the engine behind most of the high-profile fundraising and events. Even a tour of the headquarters, with his jerseys and bike art, makes clear he's the focal point.”

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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17 comments

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PATMAC | 11 years ago
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i was a fan, read all about him i could, i was disgusted by the recent debacles, reading Tylers book it gave me fresh insight to the guy,i'm amazed someone didn't give him a well deserved hiding the way he treated his team players, that lead to holding money off them, firing some for paltry offences.... eventually those most wronged by him gave testimony that sank him in a pool of his own shit. i always felt he was a brash, wrong side of the track sort of guy, he was a faster doped cyclist then many of his doped peers, not a donkey on epo .. those who think the drug era is over, i very much doubt that, for whatever its worth medically , i would let them take whatever as long as it was subject to analysis by the big drug companies, there's too much money in all sport, money leads to cheats, i think that non cyclists feel that when a race cyclists takes dope he hasn't to train as hard.. its the very opposite.. and i'd like to see drug sponsors in there .. supporting their ex clients

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Mr Mike | 11 years ago
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"I still believe he trained harder than the other riders."

that's the point, he did fuelled by EPO and god knows what else, it all allows the body to 'perform' at levels it wouldn't/couldn't do normally, thus enabling you to train harder, have a blood transfusion etc and go out and do it again.

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onlyonediane | 11 years ago
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Irony indeed, will and determination plus doping. I often wonder if he had the marginal gains and a scientific approach he could of won clean. I still believe he trained harder than the othet ridrers.

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northstar | 11 years ago
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Look what I achieved through cheating everybody?

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SimonT1971 | 11 years ago
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You're all viewing this from a perspective of actually expecting LA to show some humility - he is not on the same page as us/will never come clean. He will never apologise as he has too much financially and criminally (perjury in States is bad/will do pan y agua for first time in life) to lose. He's also a competitive pain in the arse - yes he doped big time, but he won because of this and for his incredible will and determination. So this photo is his way of being competitive against all of us tweeting/posting comments against his name - take a step back and it's actually pretty clever/ironic.
He is a thing of the past, he will be dissed and talked about for years to come and whienever he feels that it's getting too much for him he can retreat to his trophy room with one of his sycophants and get a fix of former glory. He will annoy cycling for as long as we continue to push oursleves to insanity expecting him to show humility.

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tysona | 11 years ago
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I thought that the main reason behind this was that Lance had a stake in the image hosting site he uploaded it to. So more views, comments etc= more money.

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Mombee | 11 years ago
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Does Lance continue to gain financially from Livestrong despite this, even by association? Image rights, merchanising, contractual arrangements, etc.

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TheBigMong replied to Mombee | 11 years ago
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Mombee wrote:

Does Lance continue to gain financially from Livestrong despite this, even by association? Image rights, merchanising, contractual arrangements, etc.

I think he's still making money off of Livestrong.com, which was always his sneaky way to make a profit from a non-profit.

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853rider | 11 years ago
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Respect the jersey-Rule #16

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ped replied to 853rider | 11 years ago
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853rider wrote:

Respect the jersey-Rule #16

Best comment. Ever.

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notfastenough replied to 853rider | 11 years ago
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853rider wrote:

Respect the jersey-Rule #16

Genius.

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themartincox | 11 years ago
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I'm with Jamie on this - i am no psychologist but it seems LA's in a bad place!

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jaimie fuller | 11 years ago
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C'mon. What sort of a fucking idiot is this guy? Why on earth would you proactively put out this pic now? if he is being advised, he needs to get a new advisor. if he isn't being advised, he needs to remove all sharp objects from his possession, such as computers, iPads, phones etc because he can't be trusted. Time to have someone by your side Lance who's not a sycophantic snivelling crawler who has the guts to tell you the way it is.
I could imagine that he'd be in a pretty dark place with all the shit going on but that's why he needs someone with more than a modicum of intelligence guiding him. The problem is, i think that he is so used to calling the shots and not listening to anyone, that he thinks he's invincible and he needs no external help whatsoever.
Well, here's a message Lance. WAKE THE FUCK UP AND LISTEN TO SOMEONE WHO KNOWS BETTER. Stop believing your own PR man and get real
Redemption starts with confession and every day that goes by will make it harder and take longer.
Phew.

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Swirly replied to jaimie fuller | 11 years ago
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jaimie fuller wrote:

he needs to remove all sharp objects from his possession,

He should have done that a while ago.

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nero85 | 11 years ago
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Roberj4 replied to nero85 | 11 years ago
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nero85 wrote:

Here's another one
http://a.yfrog.com/img878/4647/rbmrk.jpg

Superb  1 Very clever photoshop

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notfastenough | 11 years ago
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What an odd picture to tweet, especially given that it was clearly posed. What's he trying to say?

a. "Nah-nah-na-nah-naaah! I've still got 'em!"
b. "Where did it all go wrong?"
c. "Everyone was at it, they're still mine"
d. "Wish I could turn the clock back"
e. "This is just the games room - imagine what the rest of the house is like - suckers!"

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