Posted on 08/15/2006 7:59:37 AM PDT by ShadowDancer
Landis' Former Team Shutting Down
POSTED: 10:06 am EDT August 15, 2006
UPDATED: 10:32 am EDT August 15, 2006
ZURICH, Switzerland -- Floyd Landis' former cycling team will shut down at the end of the season.
Phonak owner Andy Rihs said Tuesday that he has been unable to find a buyer for his team since Landis, this year's Tour de France champion, was busted for doping.
"I've had to do something I've never done in my whole life: Give up," Rihs said.
The Swiss hearing-aid firm had already decided to pull its sponsorship because of doping issues. American company iShares, a subsidiary of Barclays Bank, was to replace Phonak as title sponsor in 2007, but the deal was called off after Landis' positive doping tests.
The 30-year-old Landis tested positive for an unusually high amount of testosterone after a tough Alpine stage on July 20 - when he made a remarkable comeback and went on to win the Tour de France. Both his "A" and "B" samples tested positive.
Rihs said the Landis doping scandal led to the shutdown of the team.
"I am deeply disappointed because what he did was what led to this decision," Rihs said. "I would never say this is a bad person because he played bad. I regret what he has done for him, too."
Phonak's image had already been badly damaged by 10 other doping cases since the Swiss-based team was launched seven seasons ago.
The International Cycling Union refused to issue Phonak a racing license for 2005 because of the team's doping record after three Phonak riders - 2004 Olympic time trial champion Tyler Hamilton, Oscar Camenzind and Santi Perez -- were all found guilty of doping violations in 2004 and fired.
The team was only allowed to race after appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which ruled last year that Phonak should have a two-year license.
Phonak team manager John Lelangue had no answer for the unusually high number of cheating athletes within the Phonak team over the years.
"It's all individual cases. There were old guys, young guys, experienced guys, with and without results," Lelangue said. "There was no one common profile. It's a very unfortunate coincidence."
Rihs said he stayed up late Monday to negotiate with a few potential investors. Running the team requires an investment of up to $13.7 million a year, and the uncertainty of receiving a racing license didn't help.
The cyclists were informed of his decision Tuesday morning by telephone.
Lelangue said his next task will be looking after the team's riders and staff, hopefully placing them with other teams within the next couple of months.
There has been talk that UCI and the Tour de France might consider suing Landis, but Rihs said he wouldn't take that step.
"I would never consider suing him. The greatest damage done is already done. There is no going back," Rihs said. "Everybody knows the risks and if you play in that business you have to take the responsibilities that go with that risk."
Rihs and Lelangue insisted they had never suspected Landis might be doping.
"I never doubted him," Rihs said. "He was a good boy, you know?"
What's the chance of Tour de France hatred of Americans for 8 consecutive years of winning that these tests were bogus reports so as to knock Landis out of ever racing again?
I feel bad for Floyd, my Occams Razor tells me he did it, that something went wrong with a masking agent he was taking. But I'll wait till later to pass full judgement, at which time, my judgement on him wont mean squat.
Why would he load up on a drug that would have little immediate performance enhancing effect? Strange.
When did he admit he "might have taken something"? I missed that.
That is not an admission of any type, it is one of a list of possibilities that may have happened.
Now, chances are very high he was doping and got caught, but to misrepresent his words to make it seem like he is admitting guilt just so you can slam him is pretty low.
There is no question in my mind that Landis was juiced......and I'm sure he was not alone. The real question here is not whether Floyd was on the good stuff. It's how many others are also doing it and what percentage of the cheats are actually being apprehended.
American Olympic Gold Medallist in the 100 meters, Justin Gatlin is now looking at a long ban and possibly loss of medals and records for his own doping exploits. Then there's the Bonds saga and the bulked up monsters in the NFL. It goes on and on.
Professional sports is now a pharmaceutical enterprise and the days of honest competition are long gone, if indeed they ever existed.
ALL SPORTS are in the toilet. There is not one that I can think of where the athletes are not cheating by taking steroids. We have taken something good, a sort of Greek ideal of athleticism, and turned it into a profession, a way for people to get rich without having to develop their minds or their morals. I love watching sports on television, but at this point we should also be able to assume that the person who wins is the one with the most skillful doctor.
Is synthetic testosterone, in small quantities, and perhaps under some other name, a component of sports drinks or other substances that Landis might have taken inadvertently?
I still fail to see the "glory" in grown men "racing" on kids toys in their plastic helmets. Pull that bananna seat out of your spandexed crack and get down and race like a man with your feet if you want to show your athleticism. Maybe even try some Rugby. How about boxing, basketball or even football?
I guess I'm just not enough of a latte slurping, tofu eating, big government "conservative" to appreciate the "sport" of bicycle racing. Almost nobody in the USA races bicycles after they're old enough to drive.
Let's see: You have an event (The Tour de France) in which more than half of the competitors fail to finish because it's so gruelling, in which you have to cycle more than 150 miles one day and then race in a time trial the next, in which you have to climb mountain roads in excess of 9% grade and zoom down those roads at over 60 mph, sometimes inches from one another, where a mistake could cause a crash that will certainly cause you to end up with a road rash ripping off half of your skin and breaking several bones (that's assuming it doesn't - in fact - kill you.) Yeah that's right. It's a kiddy sport. Moron.
Being a fan of cycling & riding a bike means I'm a "big government conservative"? LOL! I ride so I can stay a "small jeans" conservative. Lemme guess - "big bottomed conservative" Nascar fan, are ya?
HOwever, that said, what Landis canot escape is the fact the the Radio isotope test found SYnthetic Testosterone in his blood. That cannot be explained by any "natural process" what-so-ever, meaning that the Synthetic Testosterone had to have entered his body by some means.
I don't know of any substances such as sports drinks, energy bars etc that contain anything that would show up on the test as Synth test, but then I am by no menas a doping expert. I can wax philosophically on the effects of beer, pizza, fried foods etc ROFL, but that is about it.
SO yes James, I agree that Floyd is most likely guilty - as much as I hate to admit that - but I think the test and actiona speak for themselves, and just took issue with how you worded your post.
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