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It makes no sense. Synthetic testosterone does not enhance performance over the short term - it only helps with muscle development over the long term. So why would he do it? Why might some frog spike the beer he drank after the race before he produced his sample?

Might want to take a look at this article. I don't know why people keep saying there is not a short term effect. There certainly is and that's why endurance athletes use the test patch...

Posted on Sat, Jul. 29,

Toxicologist says testosterone can have great short-term effect

By Michelle Kaufman

McClatchy Newspapers

(MCT)

MIAMI - 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."