Worn down by doping scandals an exhausted Lance Armstrong said on Thursday he had decided against a return to competitive cycling.

Angry over recent doping allegations that have appeared in the French sports daily L'Equipe, the seven-times Tour de France winner said recently he might return to racing, the accusations out of France having awoken his competitive side.

But as the doping controversy continued to swirl on Thursday, Armstrong who turns 34 tomorrow, dismissed any thought of a comeback, saying he will stay retired.

"I'm happy with the way my career ended. I'm not going back," Armstrong was quoted in USA Today. "I'm sick of this.

"I opened it back up because in my heart it seemed like the right answer. But now I know I couldn't go to France and get a fair shake on the road, in doping control or the hotels."

Armstrong was thrust into the centre of another doping scandal last month after L'Equipe reported it had proof that six of Armstrong's urine samples collected on the 1999 Tour de France showed traces of the banned substance EPO (erythropoietin).

There were no tests to detect EPO, a drug that increases the level of red blood cells and endurance, in 1999.

However, samples from the 1999 Tour de France were kept and have been recently retested by a laboratory outside Paris.

Armstrong, who survived cancer, has steadfastly denied ever taking performance-enhancing drugs.