Judge dismisses Armstrong TRO request

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AUSTIN, Texas, July 9 (UPI) -- A U.S. judge dismissed Lance Armstrong's restraining order request Monday, only hours after the cyclist claimed a drug case against him was unconstitutional.

Armstrong's attorneys filed the 80-page motion in U.S. District Court in Austin, Texas, asking U.S. Judge Sam Sparks to halt the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency case.

Armstrong claimed the investigation was "causing irreparable injury" to him and requested a jury trial to hear the charges, the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman reported Monday.

But Sparks dismissed the temporary restraining order request later in the day, calling it "unnecessary" and "totally irrelevant" to the charges against him, The New York Times reported.

"This court is not inclined to indulge Armstrong's desire for publicity, self-aggrandizement or vilification of defendants, by sifting through 80 mostly unnecessary pages in search of the few kernels of factual material relevant to his claims," Sparks wrote.

Armstrong had asked the agency be kept from stripping him of his seven Tour de France championships, and sought reimbursement for legal fees and "further equitable relief."

Sparks, however, said the motion seemed meant "solely to increase media coverage of this case, and to incite public opinion against" the USADA.

The anti-doping agency, stating it had testimony from 10 anonymous cyclists and new but unrevealed analysis of blood tests taken in 2009-2010, filed formal charges against Armstrong on June 28, alleging he participated in a doping conspiracy for at least 14 years.

Armstrong, preferring to take the matter to federal court instead of an arbitration panel, said in his motion that his Fifth Amendment rights had been violated.

Tim Herman, Armstrong's Austin-based attorney, told the American-Statesman he would file a much shorter version of the motion with court by Wednesday.