Landis tests positive
Phonak: Tour winner had high levels of testosterone
Posted: Thursday July 27, 2006 10:16AM; Updated: Thursday July 27, 2006 11:58AM
Sports Illustrated
LONDON (AP) -- 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, raising questions about his victory.
The team suspended Landis, pending results of the backup "B" sample of his drug test, just four days after Landis stood on the victory podium on the Champs-Elysees, succeeding seven-time winner Lance Armstrong as an American winner in Paris.
The Swiss-based Phonak team said it was notified by the 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.
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 in the overall standings. He regained the leader's yellow jersey two days later.
Landis rode the Tour with a degenerative hip condition that he has said will require surgery in the coming weeks or months.
Arlene Landis, his mother, said Thursday that she wouldn't blame her son if he was taking medication to treat the pain in his injured hip, but "if it's something worse than that, then he doesn't deserve to win."
"I didn't talk to him since that hit the fan, but I'm keeping things even keel until I know what the facts are," she told The Associated Press in a phone interview from her home in Farmersville, Pennsylvania. "I know that this is a temptation to every rider but I'm not going to jump to conclusions ... It disappoints me."
The Phonak statement came a day after the UCI, cycling's world governing body, said an unidentified rider had failed a drug test during the Tour.
Phonak 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 has been suspended by his team pending the results. If the second sample confirms the initial finding, he will be fired, Phonak said.
USA Cycling spokesman Andy Lee said that organization could not comment on Landis.
"Because it's an anti-doping matter, it's USA Cycling's policy not to comment on that subject out of respect for the process and Floyd's rights," Lee said. "Right now, we have to let the process proceed and we can't comment on it."
Carla O'Connell, publications and communications director for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, said: "I'll make this very brief: No comment."
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.
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.
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.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Uh oh. Here we go again. Support your amateur racing association! The locals aren't doping up, I think....
6 comments:
Yes. Painkillers. I have a headache, actually, and was thinking of shooting some testosterone into my temple. Painkillers.
Oh well.
hmmmmmmm. I wonder if the cortisone that he is taking processes in the body and increases the testosterone level as a side effect. Say it aint so Floyd!!!! Geez Dopers Suck!!!! Just another blow to cycling that really isn't needed. When will it all collapse? Will there be such a thing as a sponsored Pro team in the future. Will there be any company's left willing to take a chance with thier reputation to be dragged through the mud by another doping scandal FK
F@#K it! Let 'em ride on whatever the hell they can get their hands on -- may the strongest, stupidest, most doped up rider win! Let's do it WWF style -- make bicycle racing a complete spectacle sport where competitors absolutely need to be on drugs to complete their 400KM stage hahahahahahaha!
I like Floyd. I really hope he's not a cheater... Menonites don't cheat, right?!? WTF...
Damn. This pissed me off. I was thinking about the amount/type of training needed for a 160km solo breakaway averaging 40km/hr over fucking huge mountains. OK, training a little bit then taking drugs. Piss heads. I'm pissed.
How many fucking Phonak riders is this now? Eight or nine positive test. WTF.
He WAS a nice mennonite boy but look at that nasty skankbag he married. She probably put him up to it.
Maybe cycling should be like weightlifting and have a "regular" class for all the dopers and the "natural" class for the dope free riders.
Oh, Jon. You're just jealous that Mr. Landis has such a hot broad like Mrs. Landis. Now, where did I put my fluorescent pink press on nails? Oh yes, right there, by my white patent leather platform shoes. (Did you drink your testosterone smoothie I made you for breakfast?)
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