Posted on 05/11/2007 5:24:02 AM PDT by pikachu
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — Floyd Landis claims the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's lead attorney approached his lawyer offering "the shortest suspension they'd ever given an athlete" if Landis provided information that implicated Lance Armstrong for doping.
At a news conference Thursday to preview his upcoming arbitration hearing, Landis said he made the Armstrong allegations public not because he planned to use it as evidence when testimony begins Monday, but to show the lengths USADA will go to in prosecuting athletes.
"It was offensive at best," Landis said. "It speaks to the character of the prosecution."
The 2006 Tour de France champion said USADA general counsel Travis Tygart approached his attorney, Howard Jacobs, with a deal shortly after learning of Landis' positive doping test during the Tour.
He said Jacobs characterized the conversation as one in which USADA would offer a deal if Landis passed on information about seven-time Tour champion Armstrong "or information about someone more important than me."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The Drug War is out of control.
I still remember someone here talking about 'Fascists in Spandex', or some such rot.
We'll see how this thread goes...
Floyd ping.
My fear is that the USADA wants more funding/power and the best way to demonstrate that to Congress is to stand on the reputations of Landis and Armstrong.
BTW the first doping problem in cycling was noticed in 1896. Read Paul Kimmage's A Rough Ride for a peek at the lifestyle.
So, you think there should be no rules or if there are rules no on should enforce them?
I am schocked!........
Floyd and Lance continue to be persecuted for being winners.
Unbelievable, a movie should be made.
Landis actually makes a good case of his innocence, this, if true about seals the deal.
Like most pro cyclists, he uses a power pack which measures wattage produced while riding. The info is downloaded onto a PC for post ride analysis. Most cyclists remove it for racing. Landis does not. In an article I read, his download for that stage of the TDF showed normal wattage production (comparable to stage training rides)except for one 45 second burst early in the stage where he took the lead.
To paraphrase Armstrong’s book.....it’s not about the spandex, or the carbon, or the AMPH, or the total mileage......
I love to just get out and ride in the open air on back roads.
Stories like this make me never want to watch professional sports of any kind.
From Floyd’s website:
New York / Paris., April 29, 2007 – Simon Davis, technical director of Mass Spec Solutions and expert consultant to Floyd Landis, today reported that critical evidence stored as electronic data files (EDF) had been erased from the hard drive and the original data destroyed at the Laboratoire National de Dépistage du Dopage (LNDD). The existing data bears indication of alteration.
The EDFs are electronically preserved records of the Isotope Ratio Mass Spectometry (IRMS) tests conducted on Landis’ Stage 17 samples. Davis was at the LNDD last Thursday along with representatives from the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) to witness the extraction of the data files by an independent expert tasked with retrieving and analyzing the EDFs.
Originally run by the LNDD on outdated OS2 software, the Landis defense team had first requested access to the original EDFs last December in order to process them on more modern and accurate software.
Prior to the arrival of Davis and the independent expert on April 26, the LNDD, under the authority of USADA, extracted the EDFs from the machinery. The LNDD took the following steps in the absence of oversight by the independent expert or Davis:
The hard drive from the Isoprime OS2 machine had been “wiped” by the LNDD and all of the original files destroyed, thereby providing no way to verify the authenticity of the EDFs from Landis’ Stage 17 analysis.
Relevant files for Landis’ Stage 17 sample analysis had been opened and re-saved by the LNDD, corrupting the integrity of the files’ time stamp authentication and exposing the files to potential tampering. The data concerning the Stage 17 “A” samples were re-saved on 1/30/2007. Landis’ “B” sample data bore a time stamp of 4/26/07, 9:51 a.m. CET, prior to the scheduled arrival of the independent expert and Davis later that day.
The altered EDFs from the Isoprime OS2 hard drive had been removed by the LNDD and transferred to a CD-ROM.
Other critical data from Stage 17 were missing from the files copied to disk.
“Protecting and assuring electronic files are required by every certifying laboratory authority, as the International Standards of Laboratories clearly define,” said Arnie Baker, M.D., scientific advisor to Landis’ defense team. “With the erasure of original evidence contained on the hard drive, the lab simply cannot document its findings.”
In light of recent events at the LNDD, including the exclusion of Landis’ experts during the recent re-testing of previously cleared samples and the destruction of critical computer files, Floyd Landis is considering an appeal to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the use of Federal funds in the adjudication of his anti-doping proceedings.
I used to be a US Cycling Federation official and believe there should be rules. The problem is that the UCI and USADA tend to ignore rules when they want and then get on their high horse when caught. The crap they pulled with Armstrong by notifying the PRESS before him and/or his team manager may seem VERY minor but it was a VIOLATION of their own rules. When you see their track record of seeking publicity over working their process, it is very evident that they are no only failing to do their job but damaging others.
“The problem is that the UCI and USADA tend to ignore rules when they want and then get on their high horse when caught.”
Bingo. If you want to play in the World Sports Old Boys club you have to play by their rules...which is whatever they want the result to be. Fairness and honesty be damned. The Olympic Committee(s) is probably the best example of corruption in sports.
My peer group calls them "soulless roadie assclowns" who oftentimes congregate to "discuss the merits of carbon fiber and the benefits of leg-shaving".
In related news, I got passed on the trail yesterday by an old man on a single speed bike, a bike that cost more than my truck is worth, but is still a single speed nonetheless.
It will be difficult to live that down.
You've got to be kidding...
It is a “real time” OS and lot of phone systems are still running OS2.
Thanks for the ping! Looks like the devil of le Tour is hard at work inside the anti-doping agency as well as in the mountains! Yikes. Are the French so anti-American, at least for riders in le Tour, that they are willing to shoot themselves in the foot, cast dispersions on the race? Rhetorical really. How sad.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.