Oh, Merde!

Tour de France hero Floyd Landis fails the "A" stage of a drug test.  The test followed his stunnning win in Stage 17.  Groan. 

 

Well, our editorial board has elected to remain in denial until the Sample B results are in and all of Landis' appeals are exhausted.  Meanwhile, some points to ponder:

(a) Each day the stage winner, the overall leader, and two riders selected at random are tested.  That means Landis must have been tested earlier, as tour leader.  Does silence mean he passed those tests?

(b) It is my understanding that testosterone is used as part of a long-term program to build muscle; evidently, Landis was not a long-term user if he had passed previous tests.  That said, maybe he had a subtle plan for the Thursday stage - ride like a maniac in a testosterone-fueled 'roid rage.  That's not impossible - it may well be that testosterone, like amphetamines, can help with the mental battle.  However, in this scenario, what in the world was his plan for passing the drug test to which, as stage winner, he would be subject?

(c) IF Landis is going to go with the defense that he just naturally has an unnaturally high level of testosterone, can that be squared with his earlier test results?

MORE:  A Landis denial - maybe he can be recruited for our editorial board.

FOR PERSPECTIVE:

Laugh out loud review of past Tour scandals;  a flavor:

 

1904

 

The most scandalous Tour ever. After a four-month inquiry, the first four riders overall are disqualified, and 25 others - out of a field of 88 - are punished for offences including collusion, use of cars and trains during stages and taking short cuts. One, Lucien Pothier, is suspended for life.

 

1905

 

In an act of sabotage, nails are strewn on the course; all the competitors bar one, François Dortignacq, puncture on the first stage. The practice continues for several years.

Comments

[clarice]

Some wag said it was because the testosterone level they used to determine what was normal was--ahem--European.

[Other Tom]

Curses, Clarice, you beat me to it!

[Neo]

Un Européen normal.

Est-ce que c'est possible ?

[Carol Herman]

Don't cry defeat so fast.

No one knows what the french tested. You just know a "result."

Meanwhile, an American cyclist with a huge erection sails past all the competition and wins.

I thought why would a man want to race with a huge erection? But then, where on the Spandex do you find pockets? So, he has a place to hang his car keys.

And, in time, you'll see. The french are also jealous because he wears larger shoes; and they all have smaller (but smellier) feet.

[Chants]

Qui, Neo. Qui.

Le Euopeen habst du smaller pee.

[Other Tom]

Starting hear some questions being raised about the legitimacy of the test (ESPN radio).

[windansea]

I think I read that Landis was taking cortisone shots for his hip problem, and had notified the Tour officials in advance.

I smell merde all right

[windansea]

posted at the Captains by johnb

Pre Tour de France, many of the favourites were suspended from the race due to a Spanish blood
doping investigation - including five riders from the Astana team (formerly Liberty Seguros).
This also affected Alexander Vinokourov who couldn’t compete because so many members of
his team had been banned they couldn’t form an official team. Then this came over the news
yesterday:

“Five Astanáá riders who were forced out of the 2006 Tour de France because of alleged links to a blood doping investigation have been formally cleared by Spanish courts.”

“Joseba Beloki, Isidro Nozal, Sergio Paulinho, Allan Davis and Alberto Contador have all received a written document officially clearing them of any links to the ongoing "Operacióón
Puerto," the Spanish newspaper El Diario Vasco reported Wednesday.”

“The five riders received a legal document signed by Manuel Sáánchez Martíín, secretary for the
Spanish court heading up the "Operacióón Puerto" investigation, stating, "there are not any type
of charges against them nor have there been adopted any type of legal action against them."

And the court’s verdict - oops, sorry we f—ed up.

http://www.velonews.com/race/int/articles/10588.0.html

[clarice]

Didn't the French repeatedly try to discount Armstrong's victories by claiming he was doped?

[vnjagvet]

Floyd:

It's time to lawyer up.

This smells to me. Landis was raised a Mennonite in Lancaster County, PA. I don't think he is still a member of that sect, but the culture is quite strict. It just doesn't ring true that he would risk so much on the day he made his great comeback. If he were to succeed, he was sure to be tested, and I am sure he knew this. Why risk all that work and pain?

It makes no sense.

[Jane]

This will be an very unpopular comment so forgive me in advance.

I had a friend who worked for the US Olympic Committee for years. She said the doping was rampant and overt and the emphasis was always on finding more sophisticated ways to hide it. She also named Armstrong as being in the thick of it. (And I always wondered if that was the genesis of his cancer.)

She didn't have an ax to grind, but I wasn't there, so take it for what it is worth.

[noah]

With respect to causing Armstrong's cancer...not a chance.

[Jane]

Well that, at least, is good to know.

[Enlightened]

Well, it could be simply a spike from eating certain foods:

Monounsaturated fat seems to increase testosterone levels, so include nuts, olive oil, canola oil, and peanut butter. If he piled on any of these and some veggies, and got a good nights sleep - all normal ways to boost the T.

And he shows no obvious signs of steroid usage, ie: bald, zits, etc.

Steroids staying in the system vary from a couple of days to months. So most likely he did not knowingly ingest something thinking he would not be tested, so a couple of days is cool?

There are some patches and gels that contain the hormone, but they have telltale signs - ie: skin rash and/or adhesive marks.

I hope his 2nd test is negative. Cuz I wanted so bad to slap the French yet again. It could be an anomoly. I'm sure the "guilty until proven innocent crowd" will be out in full force.

Shame on him if he is lying tho.

[JJ]

Someone just needs to buy the Europeans a good chemistry set.

With instructions.

[TCO]

You guys are smoking shit. Spend some time with premier athletes. Doping is rampant. I remember hearing people 4 years ago aghast at the thought that Barry Bonds was using 'roids ("how can you accuse him!"). Now it is an open joke.

Landis got caught. Face facts.

[ed]

Hmmm.

It's rather funny how it's the American winners who always seemed to get accused after they've won.

[cathyf]

Really, ed? Like "East German woman's swim team" wasn't a joke? Not to mention the Chinese women?

cathy :-)

[Charlie (Colorado)]

I think Ed's speaking of bicycling teams.

[CS]

General comments from my endocrinologist spouse:

Ethanol intake can strongly affect t/e ratios, producing ratios well above 4:1 without exogenous t present. Some forms of strenuous exercise can substantially increase total t on a transient basis. IRMS will indicate the exogenous or endogenous origin of free testosterone, but it's beyond many labs' capabilities. Even well-run labs often show substantial variation in t/e results. In sum, t/e ratio may be a useful first screen but isn't dispositive.

I'm betting on a t/e ratio over 4:1 from the B sample. This is going to be a tartine de merde, and Landis is going to have to eat it slowly.

That was a Carol Herman post for the ages. Maybe there should be a CH-post Hall of Fame thread.

[windansea]

Landis got caught. Face facts.

settle down crackhead

Landis denies the charges and please remember this is the same lab that accused Armstrong of doping but never proved it.

Lets wait for the second test along with proof that that there was no hanky panky with the sample...until then I'll believe Landis just as I did Armstrong.

Landis denies doping

[Jane]

I believe him, and I hope he doesn't disappoint me.

[SteveMG]

It's interesting that Andrew Sullivan acknowledges that he injects himself with testosterone (Link).

Not sure whether high levels causes one to abandon previous beliefs, principles and worldview (so to speak).

Perhaps if Landis rides the next Tour backwards or standing on his head that will prove his cheating.

[Okay, if anyone else can explain Mr. Sullivan, the floor is yours.]

SMG

[clarice]

Coulter suggested that homosexuals were narcissistic to which Sullivan has responded by calling her a deranged bigot..Ah..ht once wrote so well..Maybe it's the testosterone..

[windansea]

"He does not have a high level of testosterone. That's not been documented. He has a high ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone in his urine," Landis' personal physician, Dr. Brent Kay, said Friday night on CNN's "Larry King Live."

"I think everybody needs to take a step back and look at what we're talking about. Because testosterone is a bodybuilding steroid that builds mass," Kay said. "It builds mass over long-term use of weeks, months, and even years.

"And it's crazy to think that a Tour de France professional cyclist would be using testosterone, particularly in the middle of a race. It's a joke. Every sports medicine expert, physician, trainer, scientist that I've talked to in the last day, have really the same opinion, 'No way. This is a joke."'

*****

"But I will say this," Armstrong told The Associated Press in a phone interview Friday. "When Floyd was with us, there was never a problem. We never saw anything even remotely off, never had a reason to suspect anything. He left our team for a better offer. There was no suspicious behavior, none. It's that simple.

"Secondly, I can't help but be aware the lab that found this suspicious reading is the same one that was at the center of the 'L'Equipe affair."

I'm no doper

[JJ]

"We are confident in the first [test]," Carpani [UCI spokesman Enrico Carpani] said. "For us, the first one is already good."

On the other hand, you get:

USA Cycling spokesman Andy Lee said that organization could not comment until the process is complete.

[TCO]

I think Lance was doping also.

[Neo]

When they announced that there was an artificial form of testosterone in Landis' blood, the whole thing seem to get real weird.

This will probably taint the Tour for years to come no matter the outcome of Saturday's test.

If the second sample isn't tainted, just how did the 1st sample get tainted ? switched ? sabotage ? by the lab ?
If the second sample is tainted, is this because either Landis doped or because the lab sabotaged that sample as well.

If Landis doped, then it seems a simple extension since there are have rumors of recent doping that all the riders are doped, but like Landis were able to hide it, except this one time. In this case the entire biking federation should be dismissed and the Tour closed down.