"If officials awarded Lance Armstrong's 2005 Tour De France title to the next fastest finisher who has never been linked to doping, they'd have to give it to the 23rd place finisher."

The other years aren't much different. Here are the top 5 for each of Lance's titles:

1999

1. Lance Armstrong
2. Alex Zülle (‘98 busted for EPO)
3. Fernando Escartín (Systematic team doping exposed in ‘04)
4. Laurent Dufaux (‘98 busted for EPO)
5. Ángel Casero (‘06 implicated in Operacion Puerto)

2000

1. Lance Armstrong
2. Jan Ullrich (‘06 implicated in Operacion Puerto)
3. Joseba Beloki (‘06 implicated in Operacion Puerto)
4. Christophe Moraue (‘98 busted for EPO)
5. Roberto Heras (‘05 busted for EPO)

2001

1. Lance Armstrong
2. Jan Ullrich (‘06 implicated in Operacion Puerto)
3. Joseba Beloki (‘06 implicated in Operacion Puerto)
4. Andrei Kivilev
5. Igor González de Galdeano (‘06 implicated in Operacion Puerto)

2002

1. Lance Armstrong
2. Joseba Beloki (‘06 implicated in Operacion Puerto)
3. Raimondas Rumšas (Suspended in ‘03 for doping)
4. Santiago Botero (‘06 implicated in Operacion Puerto)
5. Igor González de Galdeano (‘06 implicated in Operacion Puerto)

2003

1. Lance Armstrong
2. Jan Ullrich (‘06 implicated in Operacion Puerto)
3. Alexander Vinokourov (Suspended in ‘07 for CERA)
4. Tyler Hamilton (Suspended ‘04 for blood doping)
5. Haimar Zubeldia

2004

1. Lance Armstrong
2. Andreas Kloden (Named in doping case in ‘08)
3. Ivan Basso (Suspended in ‘07 for Operacion Puerto ties)
4. Jan Ullrich (‘06 implicated in Operacion Puerto)
5. Jose Azevedo (‘06 implicated in Operacion Puerto)

2005

1. Lance Armstrong
2. Ivan Basso (Suspended in ‘07 for Operacion Puerto ties)
3. Jan Ullrich (‘06 implicated in Operacion Puerto)
4. Fransico Mancebo (‘06 implicated in Operacion Puerto)
5. Alexander Vinokourov (Suspended in ‘07 for CERA)

http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/yz52l/til_if_officials_awarded_lance_armstrongs_2005/

Bicyclists sure love their dope.

sure, i would say of 180 at tour de france, 160 are doped^^ i believe armstrong could even legally take testosterone because of his cancer which should have helped him even without illegal doping. not sure if he used it but he could.

Such punishments need to be meted out because its the only way to let athletes know that doping is a serious thing: if they can take away prior wins and efface you from the history books, you're going to think twice. It's like with the Penn State thing: i don't think it was too harsh, because the only way to break into the bubble world of Happy Valley's Football program was to take away wins, previous wins, including ending Paterno's record-holding status.

Armstrong getting stripped in the first place is an embarrassment to the sport.

you are from usa, you obvisiously hear more about that than about what hapened to people from other countries i their countries. i heard more about ullrich than armstrong in germany because he is a german. and the most popular people get obviously the most attention, as ullrich got more in germany than some other german cyclists.

Just thought I would recommend the documentary ,"Bigger Stronger Faster," to all those that might wonder about what really happens in with steroids in the USA and how commonly it is used in all sports. It made me agree with the film makers final point that perhaps that when everyone is doing it you cannot fault those that do it. If anything I say it is the fault of those that do not dope and do not win. The film used to be on Netflix, but unfortunately I cannot find it now.

yeah but doping is unhealthy and works very different from person to person and i hope we will never come to the point to say people officially "if you want be good in sports, dope!"

you have to do it if you want to win because others also do it but i still hope they all get punished hard if they get catched, it's their problem then, they didn't have to be a sportman, they could have still done something else. no reason to complain for them if they get catched.

New sources say the USDA has proof of his use of performance-inhancing drugs via retesting done on his urine. Though I do believe the tests are testing for drugs that they were not testing at the original time. Hence, why I say even if Lance used drugs to win, it is hypocritical to take away the titles when the majority do dope, as you even put forth.

i'm seeing the same dope trends over and over in that top 5 list.