WASHINGTON - The U.S anti-doping agency has brought formal doping charges against U.S. cyclist Lance Armstrong and he has been immediately banned from competition in triathlons as a result, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

Armstrong denied the charges in a statement: “I have never doped, and, unlike many of my accusers, I have competed as an endurance athlete for 25 years with no spike in performance, passed more than 500 drug tests and never failed one.”