Lance Armstrong during the recording of his podcast (Image credit: Twitter)
The Colorado Classic, which gets underway on Thursday in Colorado Springs, will not go forward with a planned partnership with Lance Armstrong's 'Stages' Podcast.
Organisers for the new four-day event, spanning two stages of women's racing and four for the men, had initially set up a reported "media partnership" with Armstrong that included covering specific expenses related to the podcast, without having input with regard to its contents.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) raised concerns over whether the arrangement violated Armstrong's lifetime ban from competitive cycling, which led the event to reconsider the matter.
"In light of concerns expressed by USADA, we came to a mutual agreement that it is in the best interest of the Colorado Classic to cancel the marketing partnership with the Stages podcast," the race announced in a short statement Tuesday.
Armstrong appears to still be moving forward with his plan to cover the race in his podcast regardless of whether the program has an official relationship with the event, tweeting that a Denver winery will host the podcast through all four stages.
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