The Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong has announced that he is making his final appearance in the Tour which starts this weekend.
The 38-year-old American who's two years into a second comeback, made the statement through his Twitter website.
Armstrong overcame testicular cancer and a break from professional cycling while undergoing treatment to win the Tour de France seven times in a row between 1999 and 2005.
He retired in 2005 but made a comeback last year, at age 37, saying he partly missed the competition but was driven by a greater cause, to promote cancer awareness.
He finished thid in last year's event behind his Spanish team mate Alberto Contador, but formed his own Radioshack team for this year's race after the pair fell out.
He has been dogged by accusations of doping throughout his career and although he has never failed a test and always maintained his innocence, the claims have continued.
Just last month, his former team mate Floyd Landis, who was stripped of his win in the 2006 Tour de France because of a doping offence, accused Armstrong and other members of his team of cheating.
This year's Tour de France starts with a prologue in Rotterdam.
