Lithuania

Latest Cycling News for July 27, 2006
Edited by Jeff Jones, with assistance from Susan Westemeyer

Phonak confirms Landis positive
The Phonak team has confirmed the speculation that Floyd Landis returned a positive A sample after his win in stage 17 of the Tour de France. "The Phonak Cycling Team was notified yesterday by the UCI about an unusual level of Testosterone/Epitestosterone ratio in the test made on Floyd Landis after stage 17 of the Tour de France," said the team in a statement. "The team management and the rider were both totally surprised of this physiological result.

"The rider will ask in the upcoming days for the counter analysis to prove either that this result is coming from a natural process or that this is resulting from a mistake in the confirmation. In application of the Pro Tour Ethical Code, the rider will not race anymore until this problem is totally clear.

"If the result of the B sample analysis confirms the result of the A sample, the rider will be dismissed and will then pass the corresponding endocrinological examinations."


https://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?...l06/jul27news3

Smoothie104

christ

* jack *

yup. just read it myself. crushed.

georgiaboy

Think Floyd Landis will still appear on Jay Leno Friday night?

Hipcycler

If B sample is the same, do they take away his title then?

fore0121

I said this in the "Rumor Mill" thread, but it's worth repeating.

If the B sample is positive, that really took balls to get jacked up before the stage he knew he was going to try and win. He knew he would be tested as a stage winner if all went according to plan. Goes to show you how much faith these guys have in the testing if he felt it was worth the risk on the biggest stage in the world. He knew the test was beatable, he just slipped up somewhere.

f

Edit to add: All these guys who have said "I never tested positive" just know how to sit on the fence of positive/negative. Floyd may just have teetered over the positive side in a moment of desire to win.

patentcad

Does this mean no Leno appearance?

F it boys. Let's wait for the 'B' sample test. These doping officials are really boneheads from everything I've seen.

Jakey

Of course his testosterone level was high..did you see him at the end of that stage? He didn't dope, he just stayed up all night watching Chuck Norris movies. I seriously doubt he would've risked his career on one stage...but who knows... Dissapointing either way. Lets hope the B sample comes back negative...

Jinker

How long 'till the results of the 'B' sample are out? I might just avoid the Road Racing and TdF forums till then, it's just going to upset me.

CyLowe97

Maybe his testosterone was so high because he's such a MANLY MAN.

WTF. Even trying to find humor in this is no fun. *****.

BTW, this would suck just as bad if it was any other rider in the top ten. Was truly hoping this Tour could stay above the fray, but I am naive.

donrhummy

Ugh. I really, really hope there's a mistake in there. I don't think he was so stupid as to take something then, but who knows. Also, AFAIK, there's no fast acting steroid that, if you haven't been taking it for a while, will improve your strength/recovery just hours after its use. Is there such a drug?

yellowjeep

I think there maybe some truth to that, I dont know about the Chuck Norris part but wouldn't it seem possible that if you bonk as hard as he did the day befor that your body would be doing all kinds of weird things to get itself back to normal levels, like making extra chemicals and such? Just a thought from somebody that doesn't really know how that kind of thing works.

popdelusions

Sadly given the accusation, testosterone is exactly what you would take in this situation; it's popular as a recovery aid.

yellowjeep

This was such an awesome tour. Now everything sucks, first the Astana BS and now this. Geeze.

Cromulent

That was Tyler Hamilton's excuse, and since then the UCI has banned Chuck Norris movies. And all episodes of "Walker: Texas Ranger". And all "Total Gym" commercials. Any image of Chuck Norris's awesomeness, which is any image of Chuck Norris, has been proven to raise hemocrit, endorphin, and testosterone levels giving riders an unfair advantage. Landis should have known better.

Any chance the positive is related to the cortisone shots Landis was taking?

BryE

Can anyone say what immediate effects testosterone has on a human? I was under the impression that the effects of testosterone were long-term, mainly used for building muscle mass. Does it have any immediate performance-enhancing effects?

DrPete 

It's also popular in the body as a recovery aid, so hopefully it was just something that Landis made himself. We'll see what the B samples show. As I understand it, you can usually tell who's juiced by looking at the levels of the testosterone precursors in the blood.

I'm waiting on buying my FloydStrong T-shirt now... This sucks.

Devil

You surprised, Smoothie?

donrhummy

Sure it's a recovery aid, but everything I've read said it takes about 3 days of usage to get a benefit and a week to get "maximal" benefit. Can anyone cite a source with the "facts" on this?

PedalMasher

I read yesterday that there was 1 positive test during the entire race, and assumed it was some no name trying to juice to win a stage.

Then I wake up today to this! Crap, what the hell was Floyd thinking?!?!?!

If there was one rider in the peleton I thought wouldn't dope, I would pick Landis because of his normal guy, hardworking persona and religious upbringing.

He might as well get that surgery now and disappear....**ck.

Corsaire

It's been said and proven that after very hard physical efforts, testosterone level rise.
Weight lifters build more testosterone when they lift hard, like squats, etc.
So, that's the explanation.

I don't get it.

Corsaire

RD Olivaw

The reason they have an A and B is because people make mistakes. I think it's all hype until we know the results of the B sample.

UmneyDurak

When are results of B samples going to be released?
Personally I'm pissed that the name was leaked before B sample results came back. What a bunch of BS.

ZachS

How will the "B" sample show the source of the additional testosterone any differently than the "A" sample?

I give Floyd the benefit of the doubt on this one, but I think he may be f***ed either way - it seems that he already is in the court of public opinion.

merlinextraligh

Ok,
Smoothie, you're our resident expert. Is the test for testosterone just for an elevated level, or is it a test for some marker for synthetic or foreign testosterone?