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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.

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"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."

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