Former Lance Armstrong mountain lieutenant Roberto Heras has joined the ranks of the ex-cyclists, quitting the sport at age 33 after serving a two-year suspension for doping.

Heras was one of Armstrong’s main men in the mountains on the U.S. Postal squads in the 2001-2003 Tours de France and is a three-time winner of the  Vuelta a Espana. Heras would have won the Vuelta four times —  well, he did win it four times — but the fourth title was stripped after the doping  test from the second-last stage of the 2005 Vuelta came back as positive  for EPO.

Denis Menchov, who dominated the 2005 Vuelta but finished second after  being   isolated by Heras’ Liberty Seguros team on the last mountain stage, was awarded the  2005 Vuelta after Heras was stripped of the title. Menchov won the Vuelta outright this year.

The Liberty Seguros team, for which Heras  rode as team leader after leaving U.S. Postal,  was at the heart of the Operacion Puerto scandal.

According to the  velonews.com account  of Heras’ retirement, Heras expressed frustration that the code of conduct for UCI ProTeams prevents him from being hired by a top team for double his suspension time, or in his case, two more years on top of the two-year suspension he completed in October.

“I still don’t understand the code of ethics (Editor’s note: Uh, that would be a problem wouldn’t it?) and why ProTour teams can’t hire a rider who like me has served his ban,” Heras was quoted as saying. “Other top riders will have to quit the peloton because they can’t find a team.

“Cycling is going through a bad period: teams, organizers, the UCI are at war, there is no unity, so it’s very difficult to get out of the crisis.”

Well, yeah, a crisis Heras helped create by using EPO. Heras’ fall from grace, and the fall of the other cycling heavyweights — Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso, Alexandre Vinokourov, Tyler Hamilton, Floyd Landis —  is a shame.  These guys were studs.

During  Armstrong’s Tour victories in 2001, 2002 and 2003,  Heras’ performances in the mountains in support of Lance were truly inspirational. An elite-level cyclist in his own right (witness the three Vuelta titles), Heras sacrificed his personal goals in support of Armstrong and suffered  in leading  Armstrong up the high mountains.  Heras not  only helped  Armstrong conserve energy but also burned  out Armstrong’s top competitors  because  he and the other U.S. Postal boys set a ridiculous pace.

Armstrong may not have won TdF titles No. 3  through 5  without the work of Heras.

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