Lance Armstrong draws criticism

PARIS, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- American Lance Armstrong is embarrassing the Tour de France, the new head of cycling's premier race contends.

Armstrong, a seven-time Tour winner, recently announced his decision to compete in the race again next season, ending his retirement.

"We can't say that he has not embarrassed the Tour de France, as he has had a quite a complicated history with it," the Tour's president, Jean-Etienne Amaury, told the French sports newspaper L'Equipe Saturday.

"I won the Tour seven straight years and was never found to be guilty of doping," said a startled Armstrong, 37, in a response. "It comes as an issue of distraction. While I love the event and France's people, I cannot accept this sort of grandstanding."