[laconic]

I hope you (or the radio) are wrong, period.

[llevrok]

he missed two races he was contracted to ride this week. This might explain that.

[US_MilitaryRules]

Who is he?

[staytrue]

It certainly looked like he was riding clean until that breakdown where he lost 11 minutes and then made a miraculous recovery to pull out the win.

If true, he probably resorted to doping at that point.

[expatpat]

If this is correct, the whole Tour de France blows up.

[TankerKC]

Landis AWOL Amid Doping Rumors

[fortunecookie]

Oh my, I'd heard a rider tested positive. I hope it's not him, a misprint.

[One_who_hopes_to_know]

If this is true it embarasses Greg LeMond who earlier had slammed Lance Armstrong, but this week publicly praised Landis for being a great guy and a someone that was "clean". This was an intentional dig at Lance and the doping rumors that followed Lance.

[rawhide]

This morning’s edition of Danish paper Ekstra Bladet reports that the positive dope test at the Tour was recorded after the stage which finished at Morzine, which Landis won, and that the product involved was a stimulant. However, US Cycling has denied that the rider under suspicion was registered with them. The French federation has also said it has received no contact from the UCI suggesting it was one of their riders who had tested positive, and the Spanish and Italian federations have done the same. CSC press officer Brian Nygaard told Ekstra Bladet that the rider involved was not from the Danish team.

UCI president Pat McQuaid has refused to confirm whether the rider involved in the positive doping case is Landis, but has told a number of reporters that he is “very angry” with the news and admitted the credibility of the sport is in danger. He is quoted on the Italian Tuttobici website as saying: "It's the worst possible scenario."

source: http://www.procycling.com/news.aspx?ID=2341

[slowhand520]

Here is a link:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CYC_FLOYD_LANDIS?SITE=NYNYD&SECTION=NATIONAL&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Tour De France Winner Flunks Drug Test

LONDON (AP) -- Tour de France champion Floyd Landis tested positive for high levels of testosterone during the race, his Phonak team said Thursday.

The statement came a day after the UCI, cycling's governing body, said an unidentified rider had failed a drug test during the Tour

[SmoothTalker]

Its on Yahoo. A real shame if true. I'd thought we'd found a real hero. Looks like we may have just been witness to a cheater.

[rawhide]

Drudge id reporting:

LONDON (AP) -- Tour de France champion Floyd Landis tested positive for high levels of testosterone during the race, his Phonak team said Thursday.

The statement came a day after the UCI, cycling's governing body, said an unidentified rider had failed a drug test during the Tour.

The Swiss-based Phonak said in a statement on it Web site that it was notified by the UCI 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 statement said.

Phonak said Landis would ask for analysis of his backup "B" sample "to prove either that this result is coming from a natural process or that this resulting from a mistake."

Landis has been suspended pending the results. If the second sample confirms the initial finding, he will be fired from the team, Phonak said.

[God luvs America]

do they now take the tour victory away from him??

[Petronski]

Ping.

[Vision]

No way

[Diddle E. Squat]

This story is Breaking News at the top of Fox News' website:

http://www.foxnews.com/

Same for CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/

And MSNBC:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

ABC:

http://abcnews.go.com/?lid=ABCCOMMenu&lpos=ABCNews

CBS:

http://www.cbsnews.com/

Drudge:

http://www.drudgereport.com/

BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/

AP:

http://www.ap.org/

Rueters:

http://today.reuters.com/news/home.aspx

Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC have several times interrupted their news with "Breaking News" on this story, but of course here on good ol' Free Republic once again one of the mods has a hardon that anything even halfway tangentially related to sports can't be news and must be banished to chat.

Al Qeada could blow up Yankee Stadium and he/she/it would try to move all threads about that to chat.

But of course a hot dog eating contest can stay in Breaking for days. Nice consistency.

[cyborg]

check this out ping and snotty spanish newspaper claiming victory ping

[lainie]

*gasp*

giminy christmas. I find this news stunning. Just can't believe it.

What a f'ed up, crooked sport.