Less than an hour before Nike went public with its decision to sever its links with Armstrong, the 41 year-old announced he was stepping down as the foundation’s chairman so that it could concentrate on its fund-raising and awareness-raising mission rather than the furore that has raged around him since the United States Anti-Doping Agency accused him last week of being the ring-leader of “the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping program that sport has ever seen”.