Lance stripped of BBC award

London - Lance Armstrong has been stripped of a prestigious BBC award in the wake of the doping scandal that cost the American cyclist his seven Tour de France titles and smeared his reputation.

Armstrong won the British broadcaster's Overseas Sports Personality of the Year prize in 2003 after capturing his final Tour victory, but his name was absent from the list of previous winners in the programme for the 2012 event.

The BBC says in a statement that it took the decision "following the UCI's decision to strip Lance Armstrong of his Tour de France titles".

A US Anti-Doping Agency report in October implicated Armstrong and his teams in a widespread drugs programme, leading to him being banned from cycling for life.