Lance Armstrong Settles on Doping Libel With British Newspaper

Lance Armstrong settled a doping libel claim with a British newspaper, the Sunday Times announced, but the terms are confidential.

In 2006, the Sunday Times was forced to pay Armstrong £300,000, approximately $467,000, after the cycling legend successfully sued the publication for libel over a 2004 piece in which two of the newspaper's journalists published accusations that the celebrated cancer-surviving athlete had doped.

At the time the 2004 article was published, Armstrong had won five consecutive Tour de France races and was on his way to winning two more in the coming two years.

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The article was based on the book "LA Confidentiel: The Secrets of Lance Armstrong," written by Irish journalist David Walsh and French sportswriter Pierre Ballester, which had been published in France earlier in 2004.

In "LA Confidentiel," Walsh and Ballester accuse Armstrong of having doped since 1995, four years before he won his first Tour de France, The Wall Street Journal reported.

In June 2012, the United States Anti-Doping Agency found that Armstrong had used illicit performance-enhancing drugs during his career.

In light of the findings, the Sunday Times sued the Texas-born cyclist later that year in an attempt to recover the £300,000 pounds it was forced to pay Armstrong six years prior. Additionally, the paper also sued Armstrong for an extra £720,000, more than $1.1 million, in costs, accusing him of deceit and arguing that his prior libel lawsuit was baseless, the Journal reported.

In an article on Sunday, the Sunday Times said it is "entirely happy with the agreed settlement, the terms of which remain confidential."

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Further comments were not provided by the British newspaper, which is published by Times Newspapers Ltd., a subsidiary of News UK, which is owned by News Corp.

In January, Armstrong admitted to having doped during his career and then later lied about it, in an interview with talk show host Oprah Winfrey.

The 41-year-old Armstrong, who survived stage-three testicular cancer in early 1997, was subsequently stripped of all seven Tour de France wins, and banned from competitive cycling for life by the USADA due to his doping offenses.