Posted on 08/05/2006 2:31:31 AM PDT by Cagey
Hey....he had three negative samples after that one tested sample, testosterone levels just don't drop artificially that quickly....there ought to have been traces of the synthetic isotope still in his subsequent samples....I think something is stinky here!
One dose of testosterone isn't going to fix his hip problems enough to help him win one stage....something is messed up here!
I would be looking at that lab first and investigating the chains of custody... Why did the press know about the test results before Landis did?
In a Europe in which a major news organization (Reuters)uses doctored photographs to influence public opinion on the Middle East conflict, is it conceivable that someone in a French lab would tamper with the urine sample of an American cyclist who winds the Tour de France? I think it is. For some reason, I find Landis's denials credible.
Knowing that a lot of Europeans are pissed at Americans right now, I could see a loyal EU lab person, doctoring the results!
Actually, John Eustice if I've got his name right, the cycling analyst for ESPN, has been talking about the low E value from the beginning,& I believe Floyd's physician might have referenced this in the presser in Madrid or the Larry K int'view as I recall, but you're right - none of the journalists have asked any of those dueling experts out there what that could mean as far as I know. Still, the synthetic test was detected by the mass spectrometer, so that problem doesn't go away.
Information about an “adverse analytical finding” was prematurely released by the UCI in order “to avoid a known leak” within the lab. A direct statement followed from UCI President Pat McQuaid that left little to infer as to whose test was in question.
I am waiting for one of those brilliant investigative journalists out there to ask Patrick McQuaid if he was so worried about the lab he uses leaking the results that he felt compelled to leak them himself ahead of time (HE DID, INDEED, ACTUALLY SAY THAT!!), is he not troubled by the fact that the lab he's entrusting the fate of these atheletes to might have an agenda outside its supposedly purely scientific one?
Belated reply: If it's true that Landis's T rating was in the normal range, and that the 11/1 ratio was caused by a low E value, then the popular press's characterization of the findings showing abnormally high T levels is wrong. And if the synthetic T is only one component of an overall T rating that is in the normal range, then the quantity of synthetic T must be relatively low, and might be explainable as coming from a legitimate or legal source. (I have no idea what those sources might be - sports drinks, DHEA, Tribulus Terrestris . . . are all over-the-counter bodybuilding substances banned, and do any contain testosterone?) But the idea - widespread in the press - that Landis was bursting with huge quantities of testosterone seems to be a false impression.
Somehow, Landis's denials ring true to me. He has always had a reputation as a straight shooter and a no BS guy, is incredibly tough, and a hard worker. I still haven't given up on him.
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