[Reuters] Tour de France winner Landis positive in drug test, team says

From www.msnbc.com

Tour de France winner tests positive for drugs
Landis had an unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone after stage 17

Tour de France winner Floyd Landis has tested positive for the male sex hormone testosterone, his team American Phonak said on Thursday.

“The Phonak Cycling Team was notified yesterday by the UCI of an unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone ratio in the test made on Floyd Landis after stage 17 of the Tour de France,” Phonak said in a team statement.

Landis, who raced with a hip injury throughout the event, was reportedly in Germany to receive treatment on his hip when the report broke.

Landis had missed race commitments on Wednesday and Thursday in Denmark and the Netherlands, which had baffled organizers.

Dutch news agency ANP quoted his team mate Koos Moerenhout as saying that Landis had pain from hip problem and had gone gone to see his doctor in Germany.

More details to come.

 

Time to just shut down that sport. I say that and I bike.

Evan

 

Damn, and I was so happy we were pissing off the French for winning the tour again.

 

legalize it.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/tdf2006/news/story?id=2531225

LONDON -- Tour de France champion Floyd Landis tested positive for high levels of testosterone during the race, his Phonak team said Thursday on its Web site.

The statement came a day after cycling's world governing body said an unidentified rider had failed a drug test during the Tour.

"The Phonak Cycling Team was notified yesterday by the UCI of an unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone ratio in the test made on Floyd Landis after stage 17 of the Tour de France," Phonak said in a team statement.

Landis failed to show up for a one-day race in Denmark on Thursday, a day after missing a scheduled event in the Netherlands.

Danish organizers said they had arranged a contract and plane tickets for Landis and Phonak teammates to participate in the Grand Prix Jyske Bank race in Silkeborg, about 150 miles west of Copenhagen.

"He was not on the plane," said race organizer Jesper Tikoeb. "We don't know where he is. It's pretty mysterious. We know nothing, really nothing at all."

He said his calls to the Phonak team went unanswered.

Landis also failed to appear for the Acht van Chaam race in the Netherlands on Wednesday.

Dutch news agency ANP quoted his teammate Koos Moerenhout as saying that Landis had pain from his hip problem and had gone to see his doctor in Germany.

He plans to have hip replacement surgery this fall to ease pain in the arthritic joint still aching from a 2003 crash during a training ride.

"We were told by the other two riders that he couldn't join because he was traveling with team manager [John] Lelangue to his doctor in Germany," event organizer Theo van der Westerlaken said. "That's all we know."

Landis did take part in a criterium race Tuesday in Stiphout, Netherlands, winning the event.

Cycling Services, which booked teams for both Dutch events, said it has been trying without success to get in contact with Phonak for an explanation.

Landis won the Tour de France on Sunday, keeping the title in U.S. hands for the eighth straight year after Lance Armstrong's record seven victories.

 

Poor guy. Amstrong got away with it so did a lot of other guys. Why do they pick him only?

But I don't care. I am not a Tour de France fan.

 

I heard someone was tested positive, i had no idea it would be Landis. (Altough IMHO everybody uses in that group, so i do not know what he did to get caught?)

 

Agreed.

 

Because cycling is so doped up, that you're at a competitive disadvantage if you aren't taking some type of performance enhancing drug.

Baseball looks mighty clean compared to this sad sport with seemingly no regard for rules despite a stronger testing policy than anything we have here.

 

If only Amstrong took the same type of piss test that Landis failed!!!

 

To be fair, they knocked out last year's 2nd through 5th place finishers and a bunch of other guys before the race started, which is the only reason Landis was even in the mix to win in the first place.

 

Just one more reason to hate America.

 

Maybe he had not had sex in a long time and built up some massive testosterone levels.

 

This does suck...It definitely puts a black eye on an already beaten up sport...

 

So basically everyone in the sport dopes. Well that's nice.

 

Let's face it. The sports in general is a display a country's drug industry. I am all for legalize the roid to level the playground. Because right now, there are only the caught ones and un-caught ones.

 

Is he still going to be on Leno tonight?