Floyd Landis Tests Positive For Testosterone

[Tinfish]

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/tdf200...ory?id=2531225

LONDON -- Tour de France champion Floyd Landis tested positive for high levels of testosterone during the race, his Phonak team said Thursday on its Web site.


Phonak said Landis would ask for an analysis of his backup "B" sample "to prove either that this result is coming from a natural process or that this is resulting from a mistake."
The statement came a day after the UCI, cycling's world governing body, said an unidentified rider had failed a drug test during the Tour.

And the statement came just four days after Landis stood on the victory podium on the Champs-Elysees, succeeding seven-time winner Lance Armstrong as an American winner in Paris.

The Swiss-based Phonak team said it was notified by the UCI on Wednesday that Landis' sample showed "an unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone" when he was tested after stage 17 of the race last Thursday.

Landis made a remarkable comeback in that Alpine stage, racing far ahead of the field for a solo win that moved him from 11th to third in the overall standings. He regained the leader's yellow jersey two days later.

Landis rode the Tour with a degenerative hip condition that he has said will require surgery in the coming weeks or months.

Landis Biography
Born: Oct. 14, 1975, in Farmersville, Lancaster County, Penn.
Team: Phonak
Pro wins: 10
• Born in a community of Mennonites, a branch of the Christian Anabaptist church, Landis bought his first mountain bike at 15 and won the first mountain bike race he entered.
• In 1995, he moved to California and became a full-time rider. Switched to road racing and joined Lance Armstrong's U.S. Postal team.
• Split with Armstrong in 2005 and joined the Swiss team Phonak.
• Won inaugural Tour of California in 2006 as well as Paris-Nice classic and Tour of Georgia.
• Battled back from nightmare 16th stage in the Alps to win Stage 17 and set up Tour de France triumph.



Arlene Landis, his mother, said Thursday that she wouldn't blame her son if he was taking medication to treat the pain in his injured hip, but "if it's something worse than that, then he doesn't deserve to win."

"I didn't talk to him since that hit the fan, but I'm keeping things even keel until I know what the facts are," she said in a phone interview from her home in Farmersville, Pa. "I know that this is a temptation to every rider but I'm not going to jump to conclusions ... It disappoints me."

Phonak said Landis would ask for an analysis of his backup "B" sample "to prove either that this result is coming from a natural process or that this is resulting from a mistake."

"The team management and the rider were both totally surprised of this physiological result," the Phonak statement said.

Landis has been suspended by his team pending the results. If the second sample confirms the initial finding, he will be fired from the team, Phonak said.

Landis wrapped up his Tour de France win on Sunday, keeping the title in U.S. hands for the eighth straight year. Armstrong, long dogged by doping whispers and allegations, won the previous seven. Armstrong never has tested positive for drugs and vehemently has denied doping.

Speculation that Landis had tested positive spread earlier Thursday after he failed to show up for a one-day race in Denmark on Thursday. A day earlier, he missed a scheduled event in the Netherlands.

On the eve of the Tour's start, nine riders -- including pre-race favorites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso -- were ousted, implicated in a Spanish doping investigation.

The names of Ullrich and Basso turned up on a list of 56 cyclists who allegedly had contact with Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, who's at the center of the Spanish doping probe.


Landis plans to have hip replacement surgery this fall to ease pain in the arthritic joint still aching from a 2003 crash during a training ride.

[go Yankees]

...and there it goes. It's funny, Shibby made a comment along the lines of, "another American won the Tour, maybe he's on drugs too." I hate to say, "I told you so," but professional cycling is a very drug-infested sport, and I've read that the use of some drugs in international cycling is "near-universal." I'm hoping that Landis' B sample acquits him, but I don't see how you can pee in two cups at the same time and you fail a test from one cup and pass from the other

Here we go again...

[FitnessBrat]

There you have it Shib....

[SonofBone]

It will be interesting to see how "sample B" tests out. One reporter stated that in this particular test no athlete/cyclist has yet to lose an appeal. Obviously, there are some issues w/this particular test.

[Knoxville]

That sucks. I was glad that another American had won, but with all of the controversy with Lance, this does not look good at all. I question this. He lost alot of time on the 16th stage. He won the 17th stage by making up some serious time. I read on ESPN's website that stated that his blood sample that popped was after the 17th stage. Wouldn't the Test and Epitest take longer to be effective than just a couple of days? I know that the results from Test Suspension could be felt very soon, but I'm just cuious. I wonder if he was tested after the 16th stage in the same way. Sometimes i read too much into things. Just curious how it will turn out.

Knox

[go Yankees]

That sucks. I was glad that another American had won, but with all of the controversy with Lance, this does not look good at all. I question this. He lost alot of time on the 16th stage. He won the 17th stage by making up some serious time. I read on ESPN's website that stated that his blood sample that popped was after the 17th stage. Wouldn't the Test and Epitest take longer to be effective than just a couple of days? I know that the results from Test Suspension could be felt very soon, but I'm just cuious. I wonder if he was tested after the 16th stage in the same way. Sometimes i read too much into things. Just curious how it will turn out.

Knox

I don't think he took a shot before that stage, I think he had been taking test for a while, they just got him after the 17th stage. Maybe he just had a bad 16th stage and rocked out on the 17th, who knows.

[Shibby]

Well whether he is or isn't poping positive, I knew it wouldn't take long for at least rumors to come out. They can't stand that an American keeps winning it. I was being sarcastic when I made that comment, being that it's what everyone will be saying. But, because of the way things are now, you can't put it past anybody.

[Primal Instinct]

Why would he juice knowing that he was exposing himself to being caught in the first place? It makes no practical sense to me. Any sort of a cycle (no pun intended) would be subject to exposure by the tour officiating committee. This is especially true after the Lance Armstrong thing some months back. From my understanding, even test suspension can be detected up to one day after injection. Also, what would be the benefits of say, a one time shot sometime during the eve prior to the 17th leg of the tour? Would it simply be to derive recuperative effects of tissue damaged during the previous legs of the race? Would it provide THAT great of an effect that it would offset any risks of being caught? Anyone? Bueller.....Bueller.....Bueller?

[lightsout6]

[QUOTE=Primal Instinct]Why would he juice knowing that he was exposing himself to being caught in the first place?QUOTE]



to give himself the best chance possible to win

[go Yankees]

Why would he juice knowing that he was exposing himself to being caught in the first place? It makes no practical sense to me....Would it provide THAT great of an effect that it would offset any risks of being caught? Anyone? Bueller.....Bueller.....Bueller?

I would say, "yes." When we're looking at this level of competition, you have to remember these are professionals, their sport is what they do. Apparently, there is also a business of, or at least a lot of work in, passing drug tests. When you combine that fact with their desire to win, which is proobably unmatched by ANY drive or desire in our lives, you have a recipe for using performance enhancing drugs.

In short, I'd say if there weren't a significant effect from these drugs, they wouldn't be seen in sports

[Mr I]

Wow What a suprise?

The problem the sport has now with all these tests in place is that, hey presto, someone gets tested positive and now they've further tainted the sport by introducing these tests, its like they've shot themselves in the foot!

Lets see if they try and smooth this over somehow, 'it turns out that Floyds test levels were high becuase he was sooo determined to catch up in those last two stages that his body produced exceptionally high test levele'! some bullshit like that LOL

[hitmansb]

I can't see how slamming some extra test the day before an endurance race would help enough to account for Landis' great ride. I don't think Landis' ride that day was over and above his ability so much as it was him returning to form after riding a terrible race to lose the lead temporarily.

[Mr I]

I can't see how slamming some extra test the day before an endurance race would help enough to account for Landis' great ride. I don't think Landis' ride that day was over and above his ability so much as it was him returning to form after riding a terrible race to lose the lead temporarily.

I agree, it was probably more to do with the EPO (blood doping), AMphetamines than it was the test suspension :laughnew:

[Primal Instinct]

Landis said that he has a thyroid condition and has been taking meds (IPO) for it for about a year now. I can see if he doubled up (or more) on his thyroid meds how he could have the extra alertness or stamina for the stage 17 portion of the race. However, T3/T3 levels have no bearing on free test levels. Now, the cortocosteroid treatments for his hip pain MAY have some bearing on the levels IF he received a pain shot the evening before. The effects of cortocosteroids take place within only a few hours and can last for days. So, he may have been hurting, which accounts for his poor performance leading up to stage 17. He gets the cortisone shot the evening before so that he can ride relatively pain free and makes up for much lost riding time.


On a whim, I looked up cortisone side effects and an increase in facial hair is one of them. On the surface, this means nothing. However, to people like us, we understand this to be an androgenic property that also results with exogenous testosterone use or use of some derivative of the parent substance. Granted, this cannot be proven here by us but it is a possibility. It could account for a spike in the T levels since the urine sample relating to stage 17 may have been taken within only a few hours of the corticosteroid injection. This is just something that we need to consider as a possibility...

Any thoughts?

[go Yankees]

Primal, that's along the lines of Landis' best hope, that the high test levels (actually, a high testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio) are in some way a result of his hip medication