The AP summarily shoots down the Landis camp's recent "trial balloon" that severe dehydration might have elevated FL's T/E ratio -pretty much obsolete anyway, if the "B" sample confirms, as expected, the presence of synthetic hormone.
(snip) "Maybe a combination of dehydration, maximum effort," Jose Maria Buxeda, the cyclist's lawyer, said Thursday after testing began on his backup sample.
That theory was flatly rejected by one of the world's top anti-doping officials.
"In 25 years of experience of testing such a huge increase in the level of testosterone cannot be accepted to come from any natural factors," said Christiane Ayotte, director of Montreal's anti-doping laboratory. "If dehydration was the case, then marathon runners would be testing positive all the time. Tennis players would be testing positive all the time.
"Dehydration is a medical condition that requires hospitalization. It has been invoked in the past, but not one case — to my knowledge — has been successful in this argument."(snip)
Ever since, the cyclist and his defense team have offered varying explanations, including cortisone shots taken for pain in Landis' degenerating hip; drinking beer and whiskey the night before; thyroid medication, and his natural metabolism.
The latest theory — dehydration — appears to contrast with events.
Landis pushed ahead at the 45-mile mark July 20 and rode the rest of the stage alone, which he later called an "advantage" because he was constantly near his team's car and the liquids it carried. He constantly splashed his face and drank fluids as he rode up the Alps.
"It was nice to be alone," Landis said after the stage. "It was an advantage."(snip)
AP report source here
Team Landis needs to do better than the ol' 'everything but the kitchen sink' defense strategy if they hope to succeed in rescuing Floyd's reputation. They might consider availing themselves of the services of a PR traffic cop to coordinate statements, because this "Weasewwy Wascal French-Jack Daniels-Yams for dinner- Stage Day Heat Ate My Homework" stuff is going nowhere, fast. Focus, people, focus!
Tim Maloney, Cycling News' European correspondent has a piece that offers a good, tidy summary of the unethical leaks from the UCI & French lab in the case to journalists, particularly to L'Equipe, and Landis's US attorney Howard Jacobs' implicit condemnations of them for the suspiciously cozy relationship these three entities enjoy here.
Floyd may be toast as some believe, but a lot of people think that this sleazy UCI/Chatenay-Malabry/L'Equipe triumverate doesn't inspire a whole lot of public confidence in their impartiality & their ability to enforce their athletes' adherence to doping regs with any kind of credibility. Folks who love this stupid sport can't help but wonder how cycling is ever going to clean up its sorry act when the "mop" they're using to do it is so appallingly dirty itself.
For those are thoroughly demoralized today about the bleak situation in which Floyd, the Tour de France & professional cycling in general seem so inextricably mired, I can only offer this small gesture of encouragement:
In the immortal words of the founder of the Nørskï Bwteimian Repüblic: "Vëê möösent ebber, ebber letten dð bæstørds gedinken öös dðwn!" :-D
FLOYD LANDIS RESPONDS TO UCI ANNOUNCEMENT OF POSITIVE ‘B’ SAMPLE — Landis To Appeal Laboratory Findings and Actions of UCI in ‘A’ Sample Leak
The UCI (International Cycling Union) today announced that the results of the ‘B’ analysis conducted on Floyd Landis’s urine sample of July 20, 2006 are consistent with the findings of the ‘A’ sample. Both samples were taken following Landis’s victory in stage 17 of the Tour de France. The results of the ‘A’ sample were released on July 26. Landis will pursue the appeal procedures established by the UCI in order to overturn the laboratory results. It is expected that the matter will now be referred to USA Cycling.
Landis, who has not used performance-enhancing substances, maintains his innocence in this case and believes that he will be vindicated of the doping charges.
“I have never taken any banned substance, including testosterone. I was the strongest man in the Tour de France, and that is why I am the champion,” said Landis. “I will fight these charges with the same determination and intensity that I bring to my training and racing. It is now my goal to clear my name and restore what I worked so hard to achieve.”
Landis’s attorney, Howard Jacobs, has begun preparing the case for arbitration. If the case follows the normal protocol, it is expected to be resolved within four to six months.
“At this point in time, I am waiting to receive the full laboratory documentation for the “B” test. In consultation with some of the leading medical and scientific experts, we will prove that Floyd Landis’s victory in the 2006 Tour de France was not aided in any respect by the use of any banned substances,” said Jacobs.
Landis and Jacobs will also argue against the UCI’s premature release of the ‘A’ sample findings as well as the anonymous leak of the carbon-isotope test results to the New York Times on July 31.
“I call on the UCI to start following its own rules and to allow this process to proceed without the further taint of public comment by UCI officials,” added Jacobs. “ The anti-doping process must be free from the perception that sports federations and anti-doping authorities, who hold great political and financial sway over sport, are attempting to influence the outcome of a pending case by issuing inappropriate public comments.”
The entry in Floyd's blog was posted on Saturday, August 5th, 2006 You can find it here but I posted it in its entirety.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but we must end what we begin. Good luck Floyd, UCI, Chatenay-Malabry. You're all gonna need it.