Landis tests positive

[|Montana Bengal|]

[url="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/more/specials/tour_de_france/2006/07/27/landis.doping/index.html"]http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/more...ping/index.html[/url]

LONDON (AP) -- Tainted at the start, the Tour de France may have been tainted at the finish, too.

Floyd Landis' Tour de France victory was thrown into question Thursday when his team said he tested positive for high testosterone levels during stage 17, when the 30-year-old American champion began his stunning comeback with a gritty charge into the Alps.

The Phonak team suspended Landis, pending results of the backup "B" sample of his drug test. If Landis is found guilty of doping, he could be stripped of the Tour title and fired from the team.

Arlene Landis said her son called Thursday from Europe and told her he had not done anything wrong.

"He said, 'There's no way,"' she said in an interview with The Associated Press at her home in Farmersville, Pa. "I really believe him."

Second-place finisher Oscar Pereiro, who would become champion if Landis is not cleared, said he was in no mood to celebrate.

"Should I win the Tour now it would feel like an academic victory," Pereiro told the AP at his home in Vigo, Spain. "The way to celebrate a win is in Paris, otherwise it's just a bureaucratic win."

The Swiss-based Phonak team said it was notified by the International Cycling Union (UCI) on Wednesday that Landis' sample showed "an unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone" when he was tested after stage 17 of the race last Thursday.

"The team management and the rider were both totally surprised of this physiological result," the Phonak statement said.

The 30-year-old Landis made a remarkable comeback in that Alpine stage, racing far ahead of the field for a solo win that moved him from 11th to third overall. Despite a degenerative hip condition that will require surgery, he regained the leader's yellow jersey two days later.

Phonak's statement came a day after the UCI, cycling's world governing body, said an unidentified rider had failed a drug test during the Tour. The team said Landis would ask for an analysis of his backup sample "to prove either that this result is coming from a natural process or that this is resulting from a mistake."

Landis told Sports Illustrated for a story posted on its Web site Thursday that he didn't cheat.

"No, c'mon man," he said when asked if he used some kind of testosterone patch to gain an advantage.

He added that he "can't be hopeful" that a second test will exonerate him. "I'm a realist," he said.

Elevated testosterone is common among pro cyclists, Landis told the magazine, and he is consulting with a Spanish doctor who has helped other riders clear their names. Landis also raised the possibility that a small amount of hormone he's been taking for a thyroid condition or the cortisone shots he gets for hip pain skewed the result.

Still, he said he "wouldn't hold it against somebody if they don't believe me."

It wasn't immediately known when the backup sample will be tested, but Phonak manager John Lelangue said the team would ask for that to happen in the next few days.

"He will be fighting ... waiting for the B analysis and then proving to everyone that this can be natural," Lelangue said in a telephone interview.

Arlene Landis said it could take two weeks for the results of the backup test to be made public.

"Of course he wasn't happy about it, but they're spoiling everything he's supposed to be doing right now," she said. "Why couldn't they take care of this before they pronounced him the winner? Lance (Armstrong) went through this too. Somebody doesn't want him to win."

"Why do they put you through two weeks of misery and spoil your crown? My opinion is when he comes on top of this everyone will think so much more of him. So that's what valleys are for, right?"

USA Cycling spokesman Andy Lee said that organization could not comment on the matter until the process is complete. Carla O'Connell, publications and communications director for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, also had no comment.

UCI spokesman Enrico Carpani said Landis was notified of the test Wednesday morning. He said the cycling body doesn't require analysis of the "B" sample, but that Landis requested it.

"We are confident in the first (test)," Carpani said. "For us, the first one is already good."

"It is obviously distressing," Tour director Christian Prudhomme said at a Paris news conference, stressing the backup test still must be done. Prudhomme said it would be up to the UCI to deretmine penalties.

Under World Anti-Doping Agency regulations, a ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone greater than 4:1 is considered a positive result and subject to investigation. The threshold was recently lowered from 6:1. The most likely natural ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone in humans is 1:1.

Testosterone is included as an anabolic steroid on WADA's list of banned substances, and its use can be punished by a two-year ban.

Testosterone can build muscle and improve recovery time when used over a period of several weeks, said Dr. Gary Wadler, a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency and a spokesman for the American College of Sports Medicine. But if Landis had been a user, his earlier urine tests during the tour would have been affected.

"So something's missing here," Wadler said. "It just doesn't add up."

Landis wrapped up his Tour de France win on Sunday, keeping the title in U.S. hands for the eighth straight year. Armstrong, long dogged by doping whispers and allegations, won the previous seven. Armstrong never has tested positive for drugs and vehemently has denied doping.

On Thursday, Armstrong was riding in RAGBRAI, an annual bike ride across Iowa that attracts thousands of riders.

At the first break in Sully, Iowa, about 50 miles southeast of Des Moines, Armstrong had little to say at the Coffee Cup Cafe, where he grabbed a slice of coconut cream pie and a big glass of ice water.

When asked about Landis, Armstrong told The Associated Press: "I'm not here to talk about that."

Landis' inspiring Tour ride reminded many of fellow American Tyler Hamilton's gritty 2003 performance. Hamilton, riding for team CSC, broke his collarbone on the first day of the Tour but rode on, despite the pain, and finished fourth overall.

But, a year later, Hamilton, then riding for Phonak, tested positive for blood doping at a Spanish race and now is serving a two-year ban. He has denied blood doping.

Speculation that Landis had tested positive spread earlier Thursday after he failed to show up for a one-day race in Denmark on Thursday. A day earlier, he missed a scheduled event in the Netherlands.

On the eve of the Tour's start, nine riders -- including pre-race favorites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso -- were ousted, implicated in a Spanish doping investigation.

The names of Ullrich and Basso turned up on a list of 56 cyclists who allegedly had contact with Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, who's at the center of the Spanish doping probe. Landis was not implicated in that investigation.

[|Bengal Migration|]

This shit sucks. If he cheated on the way to victory, he should be banned.

[Guest Master Shake]

To me it doesn't add up... he HAD to know if he won a stage my 5+ min that he would be immediately tested. I'm pretty sure they always test the stage winner. The guy's been in lots of Tours, and I can't imagine him being dumb enough to get caught this way.
It must be incredibly hard for the French to stomach that a hated American has won THEIR race eight years in a row now, right after they thought the domination would end with Lance's retirement. Certainly there are those who would go to great lengths to try to taint Floyd's victory.
I guess I'll wait for the process to take its course before I make any further judgement, though that doesn't seem to be the way things are done in cycling.

[Guest ThurmanMunster]

cycling is the dirtiest sport in the world so i wouldnt be shocked.

[|Montana Bengal|]

I heard on the news that he'd be the first winner in the 93 years of the tour (i think 93) that would be stripped of it if his second test shows the same results.

[Guest mongoloido]

This whole mess is really confusing. All stage winners and yellow jersey holders get tested at the end of each stage (as well as a few other riders at random). He was clean earlier in the Tour, when he was getting tested as the yellow jersey wearer. Since stage 17 is the only test in question, we can take that he tested clean for stages 18, 19, and 20. Something's not right here. I want to know exactly how positive he tested, and what all his other test results showed. I wouldn't be surpised to see his other ratios show 4.00:1 or 3.99:1, with this result being something stupid like 4.01:1. It just doesn't make sense that this guy, with the entire world watching him, would dope on the one stage he was sure to get tested after... Especially if the testosterone would need weeks of administrations to have any effect.

To top it off, I really don't buy that he would try it on this Tour, with so much attention to doping going on after the Spanish Inquisition (Operation Puerto, or whatever it was actually called).

The UCI was paying particularly close attention to the Tour because of all the riders kicked out. Phonak was a team under particular scrutiny because they've got riders suspended for doping already (Tyler Hamilton, in particular), and Landis was about to try to climb back into the Tour by attacking for an entire mountain stage... I don't believe he's that stupid, that desperate, or even wired to cheat. He's the nice guy, a moderate Mennonite (Amish) that loves his mother, and never says nasty things about other people. Maybe he's pulled the wool over our eyes, but I believe it.

[VonBlade]

Who gives a monkeys. If you are willing to ride up and down mountains for 8 hours a day for a fortnight, take all the drugs you need.

I wouldn't want to ride up a mountain for 8 minutes.

[Guest mongoloido]

[quote name='VonBlade' post='304065' date='Jul 29 2006, 11:39 AM']Who gives a monkeys. If you are willing to ride up and down mountains for 8 hours a day for a fortnight, take all the drugs you need.

I wouldn't want to ride up a mountain for 8 minutes.[/quote]


1) I give a "monkeys."
2) It's 3 weeks of racing
3) It transends the specific sport to have doping in sports.
4) Cycling and track tend to be the innovators of doping. What happens in cycling will tend to reach a sport near you shortly after.

[Rumble In the Jungle]

does anyone here really care about bicycle riding ?

[Guest mongoloido]

[quote name='Rumble in the Jungle' post='304929' date='Jul 30 2006, 03:38 PM']does anyone here really care about bicycle riding ?[/quote]


I do as much as it's convenient. Used to ride a lot as a kid. Now, I enjoy whatever television coverage I can get of the major races (which isn't much). I don't subscribe to velonews or anything, but I casually enjoy watching it on tv more than baseball, hockey, or nba.

[Guest Claptonrocks]

Are the tests conducted in France?
Fuck the French

[|Montana Bengal|]

Well, things just got really bad for Landis

[url="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/more/08/05/landis.positive.ap/index.html?cnn=yes"]http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/more...ex.html?cnn=yes[/url]

[quote][b]Proof positive
2nd test matches first; Tour shuns Landis as champ[/b]
Posted: Saturday August 5, 2006 4:52AM; Updated: Saturday August 5, 2006 11:51AM

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

The samples contained synthetic testosterone, indicating that it came from an outside source.

"I have received a text message from Chatenay-Malabry lab that indicates the 'B' sample of Floyd Landis' urine confirms testosterone was taken in an exogenous way," Pierre Bordry, who heads the French anti-doping council, told The Associated Press shortly after the "B" sample results were released.

Lab head Jacques De Ceaurriz said the isotope testing procedure was "foolproof."

"No error is possible in isotopic readings," he told the AP.

Landis had claimed the testosterone was "natural and produced by my own organism," and once again 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."

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 team's 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 International Cycling Union.

"It goes without saying that for us Floyd Landis is no longer the winner of the 2006 Tour de France," Prudhomme told the AP 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 U.S. disciplinary process, which involves a series of steps:

Documentation from the positive tests will be forwarded to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which gives the evidence to a review panel. The panel will make a recommendation to USADA, which would decide if a penalty -- likely a two-year ban -- is appropriate. That decision is forwarded to USA Cycling, the UCI and the World Anti-Doping Agency. Landis can accept the decision or begin an appeals process, which can take up to six months.

"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."

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.

Testosterone, a male sex hormone, helps build muscle and improve stamina. The urine tests were done July 20 after Landis' Stage 17 victory during a grueling Alpine leg, when he regained nearly eight minutes against then-leader Pereiro -- and went on to win the three-week race.

The tests turned up a testosterone/epitestosterone ratio of 11:1 -- far in excess of the 4:1 limit.

"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 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 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.

"The offense is complete," World Anti-Doping Agency chairman Dick Pound said. "All that remains to be seen is what the sanction is.

"A doping offense occurs when a presence of a prohibited substance is detected in the urine or blood analysis. That's been done," he said.

Since the Phonak team was informed of the positive test on July 27, Landis and his defense team have offered various 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."

In Murrietta, Calif., where Landis lives, an AP reporter was asked by police to leave the gated community when she attempted to approach his house. Several cars were parked in front, and the blinds were drawn.

A man who said he was a friend of the family, but didn't want his name used, answered the phone at the Landis' house and confirmed the cyclist was there.

"We're drinking some coffee, and that's about it," he said.

Despite the latest test results a sign at a nearby freeway exit said, "Welcome Home Floyd Landis, 2006 Tour de France Winner."

In Lancaster County, Pa., where Landis was raised in a conservative Mennonite home, neighbors vowed their support.

"All he has accomplished, he has attained through his hard work and discipline. We are very confident he will prove his innocence. It is very unfortunate that these tests were revealed before he had a chance to do so," said Tammy Martin, a longtime family friend.

Paul and Arlene Landis, who have supported their son since the doping scandal broke, were out of town on a previously scheduled vacation.

A note on their door said, "God Bless, Went Camping."[/quote]