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

I think everyone right now is puzzled as to why he would be taking syn testosterone. I guess it somehow helped his muscles recover, but it doesn't make a lot of sense. It's very obvious and he knew at some point he would be tested after winning the stage.

Very confusing.

 

Was this stuff fast acting enough to help him immediately? I thought I heard it would take a while before it could take effect.

 

Typically testosterone (from steroids) is used in a 6-12 week cycle to build muscle mass -- that is why a short one day burst doesn't make sense.

Maybe this is something new -- taking a huge shot of testosterone to cause rapid muscle recovery, but that like everything else with this mess is pure speculation.

Very strange situation...

 

Maybe its because he knows lance cheated and he has made a mockery out a sport that he loved. So who's the bigger prick, the cheater or the person calling him out on it.

 

Who's the biggest prick ~ well the guy with no proof of course.

 

Does Lance have any uncommon physical attributes that could also explain his performance?

And how about that 'l'equipe thing'? Has it been discredited at all?

 

There's been plenty of proof, you just don't want to acknowledge it.

Lemond's courage to speak up has to be admired.

 

Lance has indeed has an almost inhuman lung capacity ~ there was an article posted on the board a long time ago. I'll try to find it quite interesting really -- his resting heart rate, the size of his heart and capacity to pump blood, lungs -- all far beyond average.

The 'l'equipe allegations against Lance were discredited.
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SJC there really isn't anything but hearsay against Lance.
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Let's focus on Landis' screwup now or whatever happened -- we can rehash or Armstrong arguments later if the thread gets too boring...

 

I thought Lemond could have implied Tyler Hamilton with his "deny, deny, deny" quote and not Lance, but I didn't see the thing only read one article so maybe I'm off. But Tyler Hamilton was caught and all he did was deny, deny, deny. And Greg Lemond didn't want Landis to go that route.

So since I didnt see the thing - could he have been thinking of Tyler Hamilton and not Lance Armstrong for the unnamed american he talked about, or was it more to it that made it obvious he meant Lance?

 

I am so puzzled by why he did this -- seems very obvious to use syn. testosterone then make the biggest run of your career where a win guarantees a test...
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Landis tests positive

Floyd Landis was fired by his team and the Tour de France no longer considered him its champion after his second doping sample tested positive Saturday for higher-than-allowed levels of testosterone.

The second or "B" sample, "confirmed the result of an adverse analytical finding" in the "A" sample, the International Cycling Union said.

The Swiss-based team Phonak immediately severed ties with Landis and the UCI said it would ask USA Cycling to open disciplinary proceedings against him.

"Landis will be dismissed without notice for violating the teams internal Code of Ethics," Phonak said in a statement. "Landis will continue to have legal options to contest the findings. However, this will be his personal affair, and the Phonak team will no longer be involved in that."

Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said Landis no longer was considered champion, but the decision to strip him of his title rests with the UCI.

"It goes without saying that for us Floyd Landis is no longer the winner of the 2006 Tour de France," Prudhomme told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "Our determination is even stronger now to fight against doping and to defend this magnificent sport."

Prudhomme said runner-up Oscar Pereiro of Spain would be the likely new winner.

"We can't imagine a different outcome," Prudhomme said.

If stripped of the title, Landis would become the first winner in the 103-year history of cycling's premier race to lose his Tour crown over doping allegations.

UCI lawyer Philippe Verbiest said Landis would officially remain Tour champion pending the American disciplinary process.

"Until he is found guilty or admits guilt, he will keep the yellow jersey," he said. "This is normal. You are not sanctioned before you are found guilty."

If found guilty, Landis also faces a two-year ban from the sport.

Despite the second positive test, Landis maintained his innocence.

"I have never taken any banned substance, including testosterone," he said in a statement. "I was the strongest man at the Tour de France, and that is why I am the champion.

"I will fight these charges with the same determination and intensity that I bring to my training and racing. It is now my goal to clear my name and restore what I worked so hard to achieve."

Landis' urine sample was analyzed at the Chatenay-Malabry lab outside Paris.

The results of the second test come nearly two weeks after he stood atop the winner's podium on the Champs-Elysees in the champion's yellow jersey.

Landis' positive tests set off what could now be months of appeals and arguments by the American, who says the positive finding was due to naturally high testosterone levels. He has repeatedly declared his innocence.

"It's incredibly disappointing," three-time Tour winner Greg LeMond said by phone from the starting line at the Pan Mass Challenge in Sturbridge, Mass. "I don't think he has much chance at all to try to prove his innocence."

The tests were conducted on urine samples drawn July 20 after Landis' Stage 17 victory during a grueling Alpine leg, when he won back nearly eight minutes against then-leader Pereiro — and went on to win the three-week race.

The case is expected to go to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency; the process could take months, possibly with appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

"It doesn't end here," said Landis' Spanish lawyer, Jose Maria Buxeda. "What matters is the concept. A prohibited substance has been found in the samples, but no immediate sanction comes into effect yet. The rider will defend himself."

Landis, a 30-year-old former mountain biker, says he was tested eight other times during the three-week tour and those results came back negative.

Landis' spokesman Michael Henson confirmed this week that the rider had tested positive for a testosterone-epitestosterone ratio of 11:1 — well above the 4:1 limit.

Landis has hired high-profile American lawyer Howard Jacobs, who has represented several athletes in doping cases.

Jacobs plans to go after the UCI for allegedly leaking information regarding the sample testing.

Earlier this week, a New York Times report cited a source from the UCI saying that a second analysis of Landis' "A" sample by carbon isotope ratio testing had detected synthetic testosterone — meaning it was ingested.

Since the Phonak team was informed of the positive test on July 27, Landis and his defense team have offered varying explanations for the high testosterone reading — including cortisone shots taken for pain in Landis' degenerating hip; drinking beer and whiskey the night before; thyroid medication; and his natural metabolism.

Another theory — dehydration — was rebuffed by anti-doping experts.

"When I heard it was synthetic hormone, it is almost impossible to be caused by natural events. It's kind of a downer," said LeMond, the first American to win the Tour. "I feel for Floyd's family. I hope Floyd will come clean on it and help the sport. We need to figure out how to clean the sport up, and we need the help of Floyd."

link

 

The tour's really fallen off since Lance left - is there an honest man left in cycling? 2006 was a year of cheaters, from Ullrich and Basso getting kicked off before the tour started to Landis cheating to win it.

 

One still has to wonder if this isn't some part of a French conspiracy to prevent an American from winning the Tour...even with all the supposed safeguards in place. Why is Landis adamant that he is innocent when the tests show otherwise? If it's 100% true, then remove his citizenship from the US. We don't want him here. He disgraced America.

 

Finally (I think) an article explaining why this may have helped him ~ I mean it's obvious really I guess.
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Toxicologist says testosterone can have great short-term effect

A forensic toxicologist in Nashville and author of the book ``Drug Testing in Sports'' questioned the assertion by some experts that it would not make sense for suspended Tour de France winner Floyd Landis to have taken testosterone for a quick boost of energy and strength before his Stage 17 breakaway.

Initial test results showed that Landis had an unusually elevated level of testosterone in his blood after that memorable ride in which he surged from 11th place to third. The day before, he had a disastrous performance, falling eight minutes behind the leader.

Though Dr. David Black stressed that judgment in the Landis case should be withheld until further test results are made public - he was a lead defense witness in the case of former track star Butch Reynolds, who spent two years in court and was finally exonerated - he said an injection of testosterone would have a "profound" short-term effect on an athlete.

"I have injected myself with testosterone in doing research, and I can tell you from personal experience that within hours, you feel a profound psychological change, a sense of well-being, aggression and energy," Black said.

"You feel strong and powerful. And your endurance is definitely improved. So, it's not peculiar to me that a cyclist would take testosterone after a bad day. What does seem peculiar is that an athlete of that caliber would put himself at such great risk, knowing that they test for testosterone."

Then again, Black said, world-class athletes are not normal people.

"There is such a drive to win, and so many people stand to gain financially by an athlete's performance, that athletes at that level push the envelope of what is reasonable, step over the boundary, and the result is cheating," he said. "By the very nature of what they engage in for a living, these are people looking for every little edge, and they push so close to what is legal."

Some studies have shown that alcohol consumption could affect the testosterone/epitestosterone ratio, and Landis revealed that he drank Jack Daniels whiskey and beer the night before the drug test.

Black said those studies are "inconclusive and unconvincing" and he doesn't buy that as an excuse. He was shocked to hear that an elite cyclist would drink alcohol before a race, because it is a diuretic and leads to dehydration.

"I'm very suspicious of that statement because I'd think alcohol would be forbidden, but we just don't know enough yet about this case," he said.

The one thing he does know is that Landis is in for a rough time, regardless of the eventual outcome. Reynolds, whose botched drug test was handled by the same Paris lab as Landis', suffered two years of mental anguish and lost his earning power.

"These cases can drag on for a long time," Black said, "and most people will always associate the accused athlete with drugs, even if it is proved conclusively that he was clean, as was the case with Butch. Depression can set in for the athlete because being accused of being a cheat is a very hard thing to deal with."

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I don't believe exogenous testosterone stays in the system long, so he should just agree to stay in a clinic for x days to monitor his levels.

 

If he did it, shame on him, but I got to believe some type of conspiricy...

Wouldn't have someone found a needle or searched through his trash or something...Maybe I'm old school, but innocent until proven guilty...

 

ummmmmmmmm....what more do you want? HE TESTED POSITIVE FOR SYNTHETIC TESTOSTERONE!!!!! how many of the top athletes in cycling have been busted for doping? a crap load. the sport is full of dopers and you think landis is a victim of a conspiracy? wow.

 

Oh come on now. It's just a bicycle race. We should send guys over their doping every year just to **** with them.

 

i guess i wasn't that wrong after all...

i'm really looking forward to see leipheimer cycling for discovery channel next year. and maybe even jan ullrich will join him there.

the discovery channel team knows how to avoid such situations. so don't be surprised if the next winner of the tour the france is indeed another american. but it's good, because out of those three (lance, landis, leipheimer) i really like leipheimer the most.

see you guys next year...

 

KingCheetah and some others, time to eat some serious crow - not only about Landis, but first and foremost about the biggest cheater of all, Lance Armstrong.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/news/story?id=5205849

Selected passages from an e-mail sent by Floyd Landis to USA Cycling chief Steve Johnson on April 30, in which Landis acknowledges his own doping past and implicates several others, including seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong:

THE ACCUSATION: Landis said he was asked to make daily checks in 2003 of a refrigerator in Armstrong's apartment in Girona, Spain, to ensure that the temperature was proper for blood storage.

THE EXCERPT: "It was kept in a small refrigerator in the closet allong (sic) with the blood of Mr Armstrong and George Hincapie and since Mr. Armstrong was planning on being gone for a few weeks to train he asked me to stay in his place and make sure the electricity didn't turn off or something go wrong with the referigerator. (sic)"

THE REACTION: Hincapie said he was disappointed by the allegation.

THE ACCUSATION: Landis said he received the blood-boosting drug EPO for the first time in 2003 from Johan Bruyneel, the longtime coach and mastermind behind Armstrong's Tour de France dominance.

THE EXCERPT: "The first EPO I ever used was then handed to me in the entry way to [Armstrong's] building in full view of his then wife. It was Eprex by brand and it came in six pre measured syringes. I used it intravenously for several weeks before the next blood draw and had no problems with the tests during the Vuelta. Also during this time it was explained to me how to use Human Growth Hormone by Johan Bruyneel and I bought what I needed from Pepe the team 'trainer' who lived in Valencia along with the team doctor at that time."

THE REACTION: Bruyneel, besides saying he can "absolutely deny everything" Landis wrote, said the disgraced cyclist has "threatened" and "blackmailed" him looking for money, a spot on a racing team, or both.

THE ACCUSATION: Landis said a team bus pretended to have engine trouble and stopped on a remote mountain road in order for the cyclists to receive half-liter transfusions at an undisclosed point in the 2004 season.

THE EXCERPT: "This was the only time that I ever saw the entire team being transfused in plain view of all the other riders and bus driver. That team included Lance Armstrong, George Hincapie and I as the only Americans."

THE REACTION: Armstrong denied all of Landis' assertions. "At the end of the day, bike fans ... they know the truth," Armstrong said.

THE ACCUSATION: Landis told USA Cycling that he has "many, many more details" in diaries.

THE EXCERPT: "Since the position of USA Cycling is that there have not been enough details shared to justify calling [the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency], I am writing as many as I can reasonably put into an email and share with you so as to ascertain what is the process which USA Cycling uses to proceed with such allegations."

THE REACTION: Citing organizational policy, USA Cycling did not comment on the allegations.