FLoyd Landis Drug Test Discussion Thread -- Please post links to all articles here.

none ^ | 28 Jul 2006 | Self

[commish]

Making a central thread for people to link articles, post comments, discuss, etc -- the Floyd Landis, Tour de France Doping scandal.

[leilani]

green iguana, I'm thinking (even aside from the growing consensus outside of cycling circles that the T/E ratio test the UCI has been using to try to disqualify FL & others before him is dispositive of nothing let alone that any athlete cheated,and they are beginning to look like malevolent fools to the rest of the sentient world) their malfeasance against the Astana riders could well bankrupt them; if those guys don't have a slamdunk case for massive real+punitive damages against the UCI for depriving them of projected earnings, I'll eat my hat, I don't care who signed what where beforehand that they had a right to pull 'em out on mere "suspicion". I don't think UCI in its current incarnation can survive this if only because they're not going to be able to find an insurance underwriter to back them after all this is said & done. Too many eyebrows have been raised across the globe & there's no way this organization is going to survive the intense scrutiny from outside cycling it's invited upon itself. Maybe all of this is good for cycling after all.(I just wish Arlene Landis didn't have to be put through what she's been put through to get cycling fixed though.)

[Heyworth]

and why are the U.S. cyclists never allowed a good clean victory?

Well, it's not like anyone else has won it for the last 8 years, since the big crackdown. The year before Lance started winning Pantani took it and certainly his victory is now seen as tainted, since it was the year of the Festina bust and he himself was nailed for doping at the Giro ten months later.

[green iguana]

I hope you're right. The legal system is certainly different in Europe, but I don't know to what extent. The UCI has come under attack before and they've always shown a bit of resiliency... I do like your insurance angle tho'.

[stylin_geek]

You were right on the money until the last. The media never explains or apologizes for their actions. They don't consider themselves accountable or responsible for their actions.

[Vision]

Landis will be on Larry King tonight 9pm on CNN

Email questions to Landis here:

http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?12

[luv2ski]

I personally hold the media in the lowest possible regard these days. When you look at what they have done with the leaks on the surveillance of terrorist's phone calls and bank accounts and now this.
There is NO excuse for leaking this before the 2nd sample was even tested much less having a chance to defend himself. It's like a feeding frenzy anymore! Look at the Duke LAX case! The kids pictures were on the cover of Newsweek. Two of them weren't even in the house during the supposed rape and the other has no ties to it either (as in, evidence!). We can blog all we want and it does help but the truth of the matter is that we have created a horrible 24/7 monster that must feed itself with smut to survive. It is disgusting.

[irishtenor]

***What ever happened to "innocent until proven...." ***

Unfortunately, that is only in America (and it helps if you are a liberal with our media). The French hate the fact that we are better than them at cycling, and look for any way to disgrace us. Americans are guilty, whether that facts prove otherwise or not.

[Minuteman23]

Great summary Joanie.

I heard Floyd on the radio this afternoon and he sounded confident that he will be cleared of this.

I hope it is either the media gone crazy or a mistake interpreting the lab results.

You have Email.

[leilani]

irishtenor:The ICU is an internaional body based in Switzerland run by ahem....an irishman!!!!(Patrick MCquaid)

[leilani]

No question the press should be horesewhipped, luv2ski!That teleconference last evening was painful to listen to - I just wanted to wrap Floyd up in a quilt and carry him out of there. And, actually they were relatively nice. (He handled 'em like a pro today, I thought) But you know there's really only one entity that had control over that A sample info. They're the only ones who knew at the time they leaked it that a sample result with an "abnormal" T/E ratio didn't actually mean diddlysquat about whether Floyd rode that stage juiced or not. They did know, however, that it would take the rest of the world a couple of days to catch up to that fact, and that by then the damage would be done. With full malice aforethought "the leaker has accomplished exactly what they wanted. They have destroyed the celebration, and have created a doubt about Floyd" as commish pointed out upthread in #18.

So, first & foremost in my mind, the UCI needs to be held accountable, no matter what happens to Floyd Landis. We can't get all the idiots in the press who wrote columns last night instantly condemning FL to the ash-heap of history's cheats without bothering to check their own wire services to see that the ICU's "evidence" they were relying on to make that assessment was being exposed as insubstantial as the blank paper they were writing their screeds on to ever own up to their professional incompetence. But the UCI leaker sure as hell can be investigated & sued with the whole world watching and, the irony is it's going to take the press to make that happen.

But sadly, you are so right. Regardless of that outcome, Floyd is condemned the rest of his life to laboring at the Sisyphean task of trying to "unring the bell" that he cheated, just like the perfectly innocent fratboys at Duke who had their pictures plastered on the cover of Newsweek as rapists will have to do for the rest of theirs as you pointed out, It's depressing as hell, I know. And unbelievably infuriating. Sigh. But today I'm finding myself in the "don't get mad, get even"camp.

[irishtenor]

(((It's secretly controlled by the French.))) It is, after all, called the Tour de France :>) PS It's about time the Irish started running things around here!

[Vision]

Landis CNN Interview July 28

[leilani]

LOL! You irish are so cunning, you just let the french think they run the Tour.Actually, it's all produced at Bluth animation studios in Ireland, right?

[irishtenor]

Who told? That's it... to the dungeon with you.

Actually, Disney has run the Tour for years, they just allow the French to protest everything. That is why everything is always Goofy, or is it Dopey (gasp)

[Vision]

"They're the only ones who knew at the time they leaked it that a sample result with an "abnormal" T/E ratio didn't actually mean diddlysquat about whether Floyd rode that stage juiced or not. They did know, however, that it would take the rest of the world a couple of days to catch up to that fact, and that by then the damage would be done."

And that's because a lot European men and cyclists are queens.

[Aeronaut]

If they wouldn't have had the "drug scandal" they would soon have started the "all the real contenders wern't there" line to cheapen Floyd's victory.

[imintrouble]

Well the damage has been done by the same Euros who mess with the Olympic Games....

I think it is time to remove ourselves from their little "sport" as they loosely term it and put on a financially rewarding clean Tour here in the U.S.A. run by efficient and unencumbered nations who are for fair play.

And the media? We have the power there. Stop buying into their outlets. Cut down readership, viewership, sponsorship and let them have it.

Journalism has gone the way of the dodo bird. Now it is the "house is burning" all the time....no matter who gets thrown into the swill.

[bwteim]

Morning! I was composing an 'essay' on another thread and just now was browsing news again. What's the result of the second test on Floyd?

Sign me lazy;)