Posted on 07/27/2006 7:35:10 AM PDT by Republicain
Tour de France winner Floyd Landis has given a positive drugs test, according to his Phonak team. The American, who claimed victory in the Tour de France on Sunday, has tested positive for the male sex hormone testosterone.
The positive test came after stage 17 of the Tour, which saw Landis record an epic victory after collapsing on the final climb the day before.
Landis has been suspended pending results of his B sample analysis.
The International Cycling Union (UCI) announced on Wednesday that a rider had failed a doping test but would not reveal his name.
"The Phonak Cycling Team was notified on Wednesday by the UCI of an unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone ratio in the test made on Floyd Landis after stage 17 of the Tour de France," said a team statement.
"The team management and the rider were both totally surprised of this physiological result."
maniacally rather
Having said that, its not like Testosterone would give you a one-shot boost. So he didn't win stage 17 due to Testosterone, any more than he didn't win most of the previous stages, due to Test. You could expect a one-shot boost from an amphetimine (banned), or ephedra(banned), alot of caffeine (which they are allowed to drink), and who knows, maybe EPO or blood doping. The effects of Test take a week or two (at least) to notice. That said, he COULD have been using Test for a while, but I thought they already tested for that before the race..?
Are the baselines for testosterone an 'average', or are they based on previous testing from each individual rider?
I predict that the B test will be negative and that Landis will be vindicated.
I just explained to my nephews about Ulrich and the other dopers, but also promoted the heroism of the supposedly clean riders. They were looking up to Landis. Don't these guys care about that, multiplied by millions of kids? If this is true Landis to me is no better than Britney Spears. In fact, I like Britney better. She's scoring megadollars at the expense of the youth, but at least she's not a liar.
I hope you're right!
I dont think it looks good, but according to another post, this particular test, when challenged, has been "wrong" everytime in the past, so who knows.
Rush was quoting an article in the NYT this morning which said that bike riders caused more polution in their lives because they live longer. LOL but seriously, unless you've riden 100 miles in one day (I've only done 80), you can't say bike racing isn't a challenging sport. Of course, they do wear funny clothes... but so do wrestlers (the real kinds wear sniglits. even the name is funny). My husband calls the TDF, chess on a bike.
I completely bonked, for the first and only time in my life. One of the strangest sensations. You can move, but not with any kind of force, just go through the motions. Weird...
I ride 20 miles most days in good weather, which I guess is not bad at age 54. I can't imagine 100 miles at the speeds they maintain. I remember Lance once said the sport is all about who can endure the most pain.
Britney was a liar. Didn't she used to run on about her virginity and her squeaky clean, "good Baptist girl" lifestyle? The wheels sure fell off that fairy tale.
"It's a bicycle race for goodness sake."
I have to agree. Pretty boring. Maybe a little less boring than soccer or "futball/football(European)".
"Exactly. If I am not mistaken, after days of physical exertion, testosterone levels go up in a man."
I'm pretty sure that the organisation that tests racing cyclists will be aware of this...
Ok Ok - I must confess to being TDF illiterate.
I hereby apologize to all hard core bike riders.
Passion is a beautiful thing - and I respect it - where ever it shows up.
Come back Lance!!
NFL????
Come on qualifying for the Champions League has begun, then the Premier League starts in a few weeks.
Perfect antidote to the Tour hangover :-)
Got to the end of the thread and I'm pinging so I can come back later.
I also agree with your last post.
Testosterone levels usually goes down after more than one hour of hard physical exertion, to rebound slowly during the next 12-24 hours.
During the tour with many days in row with all out effort, testosterone levels go down quite dramatically over the three weeks, as the recovery time is not enough to get testorenone levels back to base levels.
That is why, a testosterone shot this late in the tour would be particularly beneficial.
Cheers.
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