Lance Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France winner, has announced he will not contest drug charges filed against him by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), who plan to strip him of his titles.
Armstrong earlier this week saw his legal action against USADA dismissed in a Texas court, and he said in a statement he was "finished with this nonsense".
USADA chief executive Travis Tygart added on Thursday night Armstrong would also be hit with a lifetime ban.
Despite maintaining his innocence, Armstrong has been dogged with doping accusations since he won the first of his seven successive Tour victories in 1999.
But after the setback of his lawsuit being thrown out in response to charges made in June, the American has declared "enough is enough".
"I refuse to participate in a process that is so one-sided and unfair. Regardless of what Travis Tygart says, there is zero physical evidence to support his outlandish and heinous claims," Armstrong declared on his website.
He added he would "jump at the chance" to put these charges to rest but doubted whether USADA's process was a "fair setting" and accused the body of punishing him "at all costs".
Tygart labelled it a "sad day" and "heartbreaking" for sport lovers but stressed Armstrong's withdrawal was a "reassuring reminder".
Tygart added in a statement released by USADA: "This is a heartbreaking example of how the win-at-all-costs culture of sport, if left unchecked, will overtake fair, safe and honest competition, but for clean athletes, it is a reassuring reminder that there is hope for future generations to compete on a level playing field without the use of performance-enhancing drugs."
