Lance Armstrong stops fighting: is it really a concession?

Breaking just this evening, Lance Armstrong, undoubtedly the most famous athlete in cycling history and a major icon in fundraising cancer research, has decided to end his fight against charges made by the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

Stories found at The New York Times, but a more thorough one for now (suprisingly) at ESPN.

What does this mean exactly? Well now, the USADA can pursue charging Armstrong for doping and are looking to strip him of his seven Tour de France titles and ban him for life from cycling. I'm not exactly sure how this procedure works given that the International Cycling Union is the governing body, but I'll leave that to the lawyers to explain.

More damaging however, is that the USADA can proceed now without opposition, and publicly without Armstrong denying the claims many people can assume that it is an admission of guilt. Of course, Armstrong vehemently denies this notion.

So which is it? A judge had previously questioned the USADA's motivations in pursuing Armstrong after his retirement, while the USADA counters that they have evidence he has been doping for over a decade and has former teammates willing to testify. Armstrong has never failed a drug test, but in this day and age that can't be taken at face value either.

Unless all the facts come out, we'll never know for sure. Regardless, the damage has been done. The legacy Armstrong prided himself on is forever tarnished, at the very least, with an asterisk. Countless people looked to him as a role model, including patients with cancer and their families. He won't be seen the same way again.

But is it really an admission of guilt? It is very reasonable to suggest that after years and years of being hounded and pursued by the USADA, this accusation has worn him to his core. I bet, regardless of his guilt, it was truly exhausting. Perhaps he is simply throwing his arms up in despair, conceding this defeat in the name of temporary peace.

Or perhaps it's a re-evaluation of his priorities. Maybe all that matters to him is that he truly knows he won those races fairly, and that his family knows he won the races fairly. Maybe that's enough for him. Maybe he's decided it's not worth the headache, and he knows that although he will lose many fans, many more will still rally around him for what he has done for cancer research so far. This wouldn't be the first time that what was someone's livelihood no longer matters; it was a first life. He could be ready to turn the page and throw that old book away, where he wants to refocus on his endeavours and philanthropy.

Or maybe he's guilty. We'll likely never know.