Here is George celebrating his recent United States Championship, wearing the national champion's jersey.
Posted on 10/03/2006 7:43:00 PM PDT by Vision
After two trying months marked by doping allegations, an assault on his reputation and his father-in-law's suicide, Floyd Landis doesn't wish for a stirring comeback so much as the simpler things in life.
At this point, he will settle for a good night's sleep, free of pain.
To help reach that goal, Landis had hip-replacement surgery last week. With his rehab under way, the 30-year-old American who won this year's Tour de France won't rule out a return to competitive cycling.
"Things have been up and down for me," Landis said Monday in an interview with The Associated Press. "I'll be happy when it's a little more simple. I'll get through it, though."
Landis had endured three earlier operations on the right hip, injured in a 2003 training crash, to keep him competing over the years, including this summer's winning ride through France — a victory derided by Tour officials after a positive doping test.
"We're moving forward with the idea that he will be back and be competitive," said Landis' personal physician, Brent Kay.
Landis looks at the bigger picture.
"A year from now, I see myself as the same human being I am now," he said. "I care about other people. I love my family. I'd like to race my bicycle again.
"I know how I did it," Landis said of his Tour win. "I did it clean. The accusations against me are unfounded. I hope the world gets to see that. But I'm going to remain myself no matter what, and that's the most important thing."
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
The cycling news machine has been SILENT on this whole issue for months. I've become convinced UCI simply wants to see his reputation continue to languish in the mud with no intention of ever restoring Floyd Landis to a full, honorable, and no-asterisk Tour de France victory. I wish him well and feel he is a great athlete.
~ Blue Jays ~
Strange the media is still silent on his urine tests before and after the one that allegedly convicted him of fraud.
Thing is that even on the day he 'supposedly' doped he didn't do anything extrodinary. If you look at his power output he was WELL within his daily range. The Peleton didn't think he was a threat at all and just let him ride away.
Then nobody wanted to take on the responsibility of chasing him down. Same thing as they had done two days before with the spaniard. That's one of the reasons Kloeden was so upset with Telekom. He could have won the race if they would have just led the Peleton on those two days to prevent them from taking off to far.
We're in agreement. How could his blood and urine be fine both the day before and day after even in the very unlikely situation his body "screened" the banned substances. I think the laboratory made an enormous mistake and it's just pulling teeth to get the truth out of them.
The simple fact-of-the-matter is other riders and their race managers made HUGE tactical errors in estimating how much Floyd Landis wanted to be victorious in this race. It's like the old story of Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich a few years ago regarding preparation and desire:
...It was the middle of Christmas Day and Jan Ullrich was tired from a night of celebrating the holiday. He wanted to see what his friend Lance was doing and send along his best Christmas wishes. Lance answered the cellular telephone huffing and puffing and informed Jan that he was out for a quick training ride before the holiday dinner. They chatted for a few minutes and laughed about things...and when he hung-up the phone, Jan allegedly stated, "I just learned I've lost the next Tour de France..."It is my feeling that Floyd Landis won this race fairly. I haven't heard a shred of evidence yet that would make me feel differently, and I'm not even particularly enamored with the guy. He was the best one sitting in the saddle and putting his feet to the pedals during those hot summer months. He deserves the recognition.
~ Blue Jays ~
ping
I am glad that the arbitration hearing will be public. I think it's awfully darned strange that Landis has been clean every other time he's been tested, and suddenly pulls a whopper on that one day. I think Landis will eventually be vindicated in the court of public opinion -- if not by UCI.
I read Cycle Sport America magazine every month and they have been keeping tabs on the Landis story.
But it is true, you aren't going to find much news on this outside of a cycling-oriented publication.
Also, for those of you who care, Vinokourov destroyed the Vuelta, a field which included Menchov, Rasmussen, Pereiro, Sastre, Boogerd, Dessel, Mayo, Zubeldia, Fothen, and Valverde with his collarbone intact.
I think that had he been allowed to race in the TDF this year, Vino could very well have won the thing, even with half a team.
Also - George Hincapie won the US Championship, and he will get to wear the Stars and Stripes jersey for the next year. It has been a while since it made an appearance at the TDF on Freddie Rodriguez's shoulders.
And - Paolo Bettini of Italy won the World Road Race Championship and will wear the rainbow jersey. Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland won the World Time Trialing Championship and will wear the rainbow jersey in time trials.
If Vino had won the TDF this year, he may not have had the energy to win the Vuelta as well. But I think his performance at this year's Vuelta shows that had he been allowed to compete in France this year, he would have kicked butt.
The peloton has two speeds. The speed of Vino and the slow speed of all who are not from Kazakhstan!
Great pic. Thanks!
Yeah, not to take away from what he did, Baba, but almost everybody on his level that he was competing against in Spain was either 1) not riding or 2)still totally wiped from having ridden TdF. I thought Danielson did pretty well in the Vuelta (as did Valverde & Sastre on their hometurf), but the guy who really stole the show IMO was his Disco teammate Janez Brajkovic.I think we're going to be seeing great things from him someday.
The National Champion jerseys aren't exactly the best looking jerseys out there, and that goes for most of them. Even the World Champion's jersey doesn't really look all that great. The whole idea is to distinguish those riders from the rest of the group.
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