Lance Armstrong’s best finish on the Tour de France will now go down as 36th place after he was stripped of all results since 1998 following a “landmark” decision by world cycling chiefs yesterday.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) backed a US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) decision to erase the rider’s entire career after August 1998, as president Pat McQuaid called the scandal “the biggest crisis” the sport had ever faced.