Union Cycliste International (UCI) president Pat McQuaid will not appeal the ban on Lance Armstrong ordered by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).
"Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling," McQuaid said at the 7 EDT press conference.
This drives the final nail in the coffin for Armstrong.
Tour de France president Christian Prudhomme has said that he will strip Armstrong of his Tour titles from 1999-2005 if UCI supports the USADA decision.
The USADA report found that Armstrong and other members of his team "ran the most sophisticated doping program ever."
Armstrong has already lost most of his sponsors—worth around $50 million over the next five years—and may face lawsuits from them too.
More from the press conference ...
McQuaid explains why UCI didn't stop Armstrong and other dopers earlier. He points to limits in technology and enforcement powers, both of which have improved in recent years.
"I'm sorry that we couldn't catch every damn one of them red handed at the time and throw them out of the sport," McQuaid says.
What elements of the USADA report surprised him most?
"As a cyclist and someone coming from a cycling background, I was sickened when I read the USADA report," McQuaid says.
How will Armstrong be remembered?
"He deserves to be forgotten," McQuaid says.
McQuaid takes a series of questions about a donation UCI received from Armstrong.
"Don't try to make the connection between the donation and the tests," McQuaid said testily. Accusations that Armstrong bought off the UCI are "absolutely untrue."
McQuaid quotes John F Kennedy: "When written in Chinese the word crisis is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity. I like to look at this crisis as an opportunity."
UCI will decide on Friday what to do with the titles and prize money from Tour races that Armstrong won.
Now see a complete guide to the long, ugly downfall of Lance Armstrong >
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