Landis' Former Team Shutting Down

ClickonDetroit ^ | August 15, 2006 | AP

[Rb ver. 2.0]

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?

[Steve_Seattle]

"The 30-year-old Landis tested positive for an unusually high amount of testosterone . . . "

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought his testosterone was in the normal range, but that the ratio of testosterone to e-testosterone was abnormal.

[Paradox]

These people f*cked up. The teams know well that most are doping, drugging, whatever. According to a recent article I read, they even encourage it. What they are sorry for, is getting caught.

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.

[jamesbrotherofjesus]

Landis admitted last week that he "might have taken something": he's a cheater and therefore deserves all the trash that he is getting. He has damaged his team and will loose his title of Tour de France champion in some months. Hopefully the sport and the Tour will be able to rise again to its glory... Landis goofed BIG time!!!

[Sergio]

It is my understanding that the same tests done both before and after the day in question, came up negative.

Factor in that doping has to be done weeks in advance for it to be of any benefit to the cyclist, and that doping substances stay in the body and can be detected for weeks as well, and we get a situation that just does not pass the smell test.

[dodger]

One weird thing as my doctor-cousin mentioned, is that testosterone is not an acutely acting drug but a hormone whose effects are very gradual. Landis' testosterone levels were normal at other stages of the Tour.

Why would he load up on a drug that would have little immediate performance enhancing effect? Strange.

[leilani]

When did he admit he "might have taken something"? I missed that.

[commish]

OH please.. Landis did not "admit" that he "might have taken something". He was being interviewed and was aksed what could have happened to cause a positive test if he wasn't doping. He gave a list of possibilities including "I may have ingested something inadvertantly".

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.

[marshmallow]

The whole of cycling is in the toilet. Even before the Tour started, there was a bunch of guys kicked off, including Ulrich and Basso. Now this.

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.

[Plutarch]

If it is any consolation, the ugly Phonak kit will not be missed.

[babble-on]

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.

[jamesbrotherofjesus]

No, I didn't mean that he had admitted doping himself, but taking into account what has happened to previous cyclist in similar situations, well... his words do have a particular meaning. Right now his chances of being innocent are about 1% and his explanations of what caused the high levels of testosterone are just not credible at all. There is a huge doping market established in the States and many European countries that affects not only cycling but many other sports (just read that they had found needles in the recent in the European Athletic Championships).

I can't feel sorry for Landis or any other professional sport men who dope themselves, sorry!

[Steve_Seattle]

"Why would he load up on a drug that would have little immediate performance enhancing effect? Strange."

I read that injected testosterone can indeed give a rather quick boost, but that it should still be detectable for several days after use. Smaller quantities of testosterone, administered with a patch, would dissipate within hours but would not be sufficient to provide a significant competitive advantage. So either Landis is lying and was involved in a highly sophisticated masking program, which failed on one occasion for some reason or other, or there is little if any evidence that his performance was drug-enhanced.

[Steve_Seattle]

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?

[308MBR]

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.

[PackerBronco]

I still fail to see the "glory" in grown men "racing" on kids toys in their plastic helmets.

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.

[Vision]

Landis admitted last week that he "might have taken something": he's a cheater

Please document this, or fully retract it.

[leilani]

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?

[commish]

Actually the T/E levels I can accept. That particular test is notoriously innaccurate -- that is why the IOC dropped it completely. EVERY challenge to the T/E test itself has been successful.

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.