Oh, he fooled us. That devil.Tour de France winner Floyd Landis tested positive for testosterone after his dramatic Stage 17 win. His team confirms the positive test.Thinking back, Landis was among the leaders in the middle of the race, then fell well out of contention (eight minutes back), only to storm back and win Stage 17, coming within less than a minute of then leader Oscar Pereiro. He went on to dye his jersey yellow (or however they anoint the current leader — they probably switch jerseys) and ride down the Champs-Elysees first.Well, shit.We're supposed to be all cynical here about athletes and performance enhancers, and then we let our guard down because we wanted an American to win the Tour. And to be frank, doping allegations never once crossed my mind, because I'm not accustomed to American cyclists testing positive. Gee, thanks, Lance for being so goddamn clean.So he'll probably be stripped of his Tour title, which will be handed to Pereiro, who finished second. That is, unless Pereiro was found to dope, in which case it will go to Andreas Kloden, and so on until they find the best finishing clean athlete. Actually, now that I think about it, Lance Armstrong just may win this Tour as well.The rumors were swirling around Landis all week, especially because nobody from Denmark's Jyske Bank Grand Prix could locate him to see if he was going to actually participate in their race. Teammates were quoted as saying Landis had a hip injury.
That excuse sounds like a lie, but there's a shred of truth in that. You see, Landis is about to become much less hip.
UPDATE: Landis denies any kind of cheating. Boy, that was quick.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - DrPat
Couple of notes here. First, testing positive to elevated testosterone levels is not prima facie evidence of doping, but is "subject to investigation".
Second, Landis is currently suspended by his team pending results of the investigation, so he would not be eligible to compete in the Danish race. And, by the way, Landis doesn't have "a hip injury", he has a dead hip; the bone is completely brittle and dry.
Please recall that such investigations plagued Lance Armstrong throughout his Tour stampede, and they each resulted in clearing him of doping. The squeaky-clean image of Lance was never visible during his active competitive years, but is only to be seen in retrospect. It is possible that this will be the case with the next winning American in the Tour, Floyd Landis.
2 - Lisa Gianardi
Floyd and Team Phonak need to have the B test sent to a lab in the Netherlands. I would never in a million years trust a French lab. They are so desperate to shaft an American. I do not now nor will I ever believe that Landis used testosterone the night before Stage 17. He had to know they would test everthing. How many IVs were given to him the night before Stage 17. I can't believe anyone would be so stupid. I think this is another pissed off French group trying to hang doping on the winner since he is an American. I will never believe it.
Lisa Gianardi
3 - Bill Johston
I cannot wait until Floyd sues all of these news groups for defamation when it turns out that this is another French attempt to sock one to the United States. Ultimately, the French just cannot accept that we are better at everything. Good luck in the next thirty years France-or should I say the Islamic Republic of Europe.
4 - Arnout
Armstrong clean, that's a good one. Now pull the other leg.
5 - Matthew T. Sussman
See, I think you have to believe a positive test is possible.
This isn't a French newspaper reporting a positive test from five years ago -- this is their own team reporting a positive test a week ago. Holds a little more substance if you ask me.
6 - chris
You are not be used to Americans testing positive? Tyler Hamilton? Remember him?
7 - Jet in Columbus
Until I read this article I (like a lot of people)figured it was just French shenanigans all over again, but this was from his own team.
Thanks for setting it straight, for those of us who just assumed without knowing the details Matt.
Jet
8 - Chuck Lai
Floyd did not test positive for testosterone. His A sample T/E ratio (testosterone to epitestosterone ratio) was high. I'm assuming higher than the 4:1 ratio.
Supposedly, his testosterone level was lower than normal. Let's wait until his B sample is tested before calling him a devil.
9 - Matthew T. Sussman
Tyler Hamilton ... Tyler Hamltion ... which TdF did he win again?
10 - jase
Please explain how the team managers are still in employment (living is easy with eyes closed misunderstanding all you see !!!) As long as there are human beings on this planet there will be people willing the break the rules in sport, business or life. Unfortunately its the people not at the top of the food chain who get blamed for all the things that go wrong. Also explain how the other 100 odd riders are able to ride 3000km + on water alone i think not
11 - Arnout
"I'm not accustomed to American cyclists testing positive."
Where do you mention TdF again?
12 - Matthew T. Sussman
Americans don't know they have cyclists until they win that race.
Tyler Hamilton could have been world ranked for all I know, but to us he's just some dude who bikes a lot. Maybe gets some points if he ever was Lance Armstrong's teammate, +1 if he wore a LIVESTRONG bracelet.
13 - Jet in Columbus
Speaking of Lance Armstrong, are you aware that several sports wires are linking him romantically to of all people...Jake Gylenhaal of Brokeback Mountiain Fame?
No lie, they're giving odds of 1/3!
14 - Matthew T. Sussman
Well, you buy a tandem bike together, you're gonna get that.
15 - scott
Interesting find, Alcohol can contribute to elevated levels, see this article: nih.gov
Floyd had the beer the night before!
16 - Dave Mace
Landis drank a lot of beer after Stage 16.
Beer has ethanol in it.
His test from a hack French lab comes back testing high in testosterone.
Testosterone has ethanol in it.
Case closed. Let's get back to work.
17 - Susan MD
Actually, testosterone can rise precipitously following refeeding semistarved individuals.
see:
J Appl Physiol 88: 1820-1830,2000
Endocrine markers of semistarvation in healthy lean men in a multistressor environment.
Friedl KE et al.
18 - sal m
this may be the case in semistarved individuals but landis and all elite level racers consume calories during their races and are not semi-starved. depleted yes, but not necessarily semi-starved...and if this condition was common more racers would have ratios that were out of whack.
19 - DrPat
Sal, the problem with Landis in Stage 16 was lack of feeding and hydration; he missed several water and food distributions, and "bonked" because of that. He finished that stage (Alp d'Huez, I think) looking like a concentration-camp survivor.
20 - Jet in Columbus
Matt, I'm confused, I though he failed an American test, and that's why the team dumped him?
Why would they do that so quickly from a French test?
21 - Matthew T. Sussman
Floyd is an American, but that's about as much USA is in this story.
We may not trust the French but Phonak (a Swiss company) and other teams/sponsors have to take a positive test seriously, and it's probably just a necessary formality to immediately suspend an athlete that gets a positive test and then ask questions later.
22 - Jet in Columbus
So how long does it normally take for the 2nd test to come in, has he made any further statements since you wrote this?
23 - Kerry
"Testosterone can build muscle and improve recovery time when used over a period of several weeks, said Dr. Gary Wadler, a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency and a spokesman for the American College of Sports Medicine. But if Landis had been a user, his earlier urine tests during the tour would have been affected, he said. "So something's missing here," Wadler said. "It just doesn't add up."
There is no such thing as overnight doping with testosterone. It is not possible that improvement from stage 16 to stage 17 was testosterone doping, contrary to the popular speculation.
24 - Matthew T. Sussman
Other than the story update, I've heard nothing else out of Landis.
25 - Jakob Thusgaard
Maybe we should wait for that B test before we do what the French must be wanting: Judge a man publicly without trial !? Why else would the A test be made public without the B test?