Floyd Landis... On Steroids

[J pold]

No details released yet, but just reported on the fan, and is under breaking news on tsc.ca

According to the Reuters news agency, Tour de France winner Floyd Landis has tested positive for high levels of testosterone/epitestosterone. Details to follow...

[ken0042]

Was just reading it on CNN. Pretty sad.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ing/index.html

Funny thing is the other day Leno was going on about how Americans were dominating............. guess not so much eh.

[troutman]

Does anyone still think cycling is not 100% dirty? Ullrich and other top riders had to pull out of the Tour de France. Allegations swirl around Lance Armstrong. Floyd Landis has been caught, after winning the Tour with a gutsy effort on the last two days. Too bad really; cycling is a great sport, and the Tour de France is a great event. Sorry Habernac, but the sport is full of cheaters, and I don't know what the solution will be.

Even a cursory look at the Doping Archives reveals how widespread the problem is:

http://www.tdfblog.com/doping/

The Phonak team confirms that their Tour de France champion Floyd Landis is the rider whose A-sample tested positive.

Intense speculation had focused on Landis, after it was announced that the test was taken after Stage 17, his epic breakaway to Morzine. Contrary to a couple of reports, the test was positive not for stimulants, but for a too-high ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone.

cyclingnews.com | Latest Cycling News for July 6, 2006

Almost every story in today's CyclingNews daily roundup is doping related;

[M-V-PHANEUF]

How do these guys still think they won't get caught?

[J pold]

You just know France just loves this, I wonder what this does to Lance…

[habernac]

[Greene-da-979]

Wow I'm shocked.


not

[habernac]

Originally Posted by troutman

Does anyone still think cycling is not 100% dirty? Ullrich and other top riders had to pull out of the Tour de France. Allegations swirl around Lance Armstrong. Floyd Landis has been caught, after winning the Tour with a gutsy effort on the last two days. Too bad really; cycling is a great sport, and the Tour de France is a great event. Sorry Habernac, but the sport is full of cheaters, and I don't know what the solution will be.

Even a cursory look at the Doping Archives reveals how widespread the problem is:

http://www.tdfblog.com/doping/

The Phonak team confirms that their Tour de France champion Floyd Landis is the rider whose A-sample tested positive.

Intense speculation had focused on Landis, after it was announced that the test was taken after Stage 17, his epic breakaway to Morzine. Contrary to a couple of reports, the test was positive not for stimulants, but for a too-high ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone.

cyclingnews.com | Latest Cycling News for July 6, 2006

Almost every story in today's CyclingNews daily roundup is doping related;

every sport has cheaters. Baseball, football, track and field, hockey, cross country skiing, why single out cycling as being worse than the others? The allegations that surround Armstrong are exactly that: allegations. He's never failed a test. One guy tested positive, not the whole tour. The guys thrown out before the tour haven't even been convicted of anything. I think it's disappointing that they've reported who it is to the media when the B sample hasn't been tested yet.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by M-V-PHANEUF

How do these guys still think they won't get caught?

Because it seems like 90+% of the time they don't get caught.

Urine tests can't catch most of the new designer drugs, and even if there were manditory blood tests the newest drugs are unknown - it would be like looking for a spelling mistake in the phonebook.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by habernac

I think it's disappointing that they've reported who it is to the media when the B sample hasn't been tested yet.

I don't know cycling very well, but I was under the impression his own team was the ones who reported it to the media. Maybe they know something and don't need the second test to confirm it?

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by habernac

every sport has cheaters. Baseball, football, track and field, hockey, cross country skiing, why single out cycling as being worse than the others? The allegations that surround Armstrong are exactly that: allegations. He's never failed a test. One guy tested positive, not the whole tour. The guys thrown out before the tour haven't even been convicted of anything. I think it's disappointing that they've reported who it is to the media when the B sample hasn't been tested yet.

Quotes like this don't help cycling's cause:

Cycling produced the most positive tests for banned substances of any Olympic sport in the latest global statistics compiled by the World Anti-Doping Agency.


WADA-accredited laboratories reported 482 positive samples for cyclists in 2005. Olympic-level international baseball was second with 390 positives, while soccer was third with 343. Track and field - the most tested sport - was fourth with 342.


Cycling also had the highest percentage of positive tests, with 3.78 per cent out of 12,751 samples, followed by baseball (3.69 per cent out of 10,580) and boxing (3.41 per cent of 2,433) and triathlon (3.41 per cent of 2,170). Track and field had 1.67 per cent positives out of 20,464 samples.

These are figures from the World anti-doping Agency. Link

Lots of sports have issues, but cycling has earned it's reputation.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by habernac

every sport has cheaters. Baseball, football, track and field, hockey, cross country skiing, why single out cycling as being worse than the others? The allegations that surround Armstrong are exactly that: allegations. He's never failed a test. One guy tested positive, not the whole tour. The guys thrown out before the tour haven't even been convicted of anything. I think it's disappointing that they've reported who it is to the media when the B sample hasn't been tested yet.

Whether or not there is cheating in other sports is irrelevant in this thread. The fact that only a few are getting caught does not mean they aren't doping. They know how to beat the tests. IMO, it is naive to think you can compete at the highest level of cycling and not be doping. It provides such a huge advantage, either you dope, or you can't compete with those that are doping.

I hope they can clean it up, but it seems to me most Europeans tacitly accept that all cyclists are doping (I recently spent two weeks in France), and nothing can be done about it.

[troutman]

Here is what a friend of mine had to say (a big cycling enthusiast like Habernac):

The problem is widespread, but they will hopefully eventually weed out the cheaters if they improve testing and continue strong punishments.
Stage 13, Landis and the Phonak team decide to let Oscar Pereiro of Caisse D'Eparagne-Illes Balears (I don't even know how to pronounce that) take over the yellow jersey with a near 30 minute breakaway gap, so that the Phonak team would not need to expend energy defending the jersey. When questioned about the tactic after the stage, Landis and the Chef D'Mission both kind of laughed off the possibility of Pereiro being able to defend the jersey once they got to the Alps. J. and I thought that was stupid, risky, and conceited. If I were Pereiro, I'd be insulted and want to prove them wrong.
Landis kicked butt on Stage 15 to retake the yellow, but Pereiro fought to limit his losses. Landis lost it when he cracked on Stage 16, Periero had it back through his own guts and determination. It left one mountain stage and one time trial as the remaining opportunities to Landis to retake it before Paris.
Landis HAD TO do a long solo breakaway on Stage 17, a 'miracle ride showing his guts and determination'. J. and I thought he must have taken something because no one can crack so bad one day then have such a revival the next day. It was the test from that stage that has proven his undoing. I say ban him from pro cycling for two years (not including his upcoming surgery hiatus) and from the TDF for life.
Will any of us be really surprised if/when it is proven (or admitted) that Armstrong was doping? Lemond has insinuated it, Frankie Andreu's wife said she heard Armstrong admit it to a doctor. ICU and TDF need stronger doping controls. How did Armstrong, Ullrich, Basso and Mancebo contend for the podium for multiple years and not one of them was caught until this year? The only other real contender in the past decade was Marco Pantani and he was caught, but by Giro D'Italia or Vuelta Espana (can't remember which), not the TDF testing controls. He served a one year ban...lame. Now he's dead, complications from drug use.
I applaud T-Mobile for unceremoniously firing Ullrich after it was discovered. Why wouldn't CSC do the same with Basso?
All hail Oscar Pereiro of some team I can't pronounce, 2006 TDF champion.
I hope he's clean.

I love the TDF for its drama, strategy, and physicality..but I hate the doping. I wish they were all clean.

[habernac]

Austin Murphy from SI gets a call back.
Floyd speaks....

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...x.html?cnn=yes

I want to believe as well, but I'm not holding my breath.

[flames_1987]

They just had the guy's mom on sportsnet, wow, somebody took her crazy pills today.

[oldschoolcalgary]

its such a terrible shame...I am a huge cycling enthusiast (though my best days are behind me now in terms of my own physical conditioning) and I've been watching the Tour since LeMond's first victory...

The TDF is truly one of the greatest sports spectacles in the world...but all these dopers have turned it and cycling in general into a joke...it'll take years to undue the damage done by this year's tour...

And if Lance did cheat, I am hoping they catch up to him...

[Hakan]

I've said this before. There is just no way that any of these guys are clean. Think about this tour 6 days a week for more than 3 weeks average 120 kms a day with a speed for 40 km/h. There's just no way the human body can do that. No way.

[cSpooge]

Originally Posted by Hakan

I've said this before. There is just no way that any of these guys are clean. Think about this tour 6 days a week for more than 3 weeks average 120 kms a day with a speed for 40 km/h. There's just no way the human body can do that. No way.

its more like 7 days a week avg of 150+ a day... but yeah its crazy that anyone can go through it.

[habernac]

Originally Posted by flames_1987

They just had the guy's mom on sportsnet, wow, somebody took her crazy pills today.

shame on the press for hounding his poor mother. She's a simple Mennonite farmer, give her a break already. They don't even own a TV or a car.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by habernac

They don't even own a TV or a car.

I guess that explains why the son is so good at riding his bike.