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Landis tests positive for drugs

Mitthrawnuruodo

Mitthrawnuruodo

Moderator emeritus
Original poster
Mar 10, 2004
14,858
1,906
Bergen, Norway
A scandal is brewing.

There are reports that a profiled rider has given a positive test after the stage to Morzine July 20th. The one where Landis demolished the rest of the field.

Now Landis has "dissapeared" and not shown up for races in Holland yesterday and Denmark today. The Danish paper Ekstra Bladet claims to know that it is Landis that has tested positive. The UCI director responds indirectly when asked if Landis is involved, saying something like "that I cannot comment, but I'm extremely angry and the whole reputation of cycling as a sport is at stakes".

(Only links I have so far is in Norwegian: Dagbladet and VG)
 
This was such an accomplishment for Floyd, I really hope it isn't tainted. I teared up when I first heard about it.
If it turns out to be him I may turn my back on competitive cycling for good. I'm hoping it's not though!
 
I'm shocked, but I don't want to be too hasty here. I was friends with him through high school, and he was a really decent guy. I'm having a hard time believing all of this. That said, major championships make contendors do desperate things. Either way (if he did dope or not), his reputation is ruined by all the breaking news stories. I won't pass judgement until his team confirms the testing on the "B" deposit, and drops him.
 
I agree, I want to see what the "B" test shows... but you have to admit, his behavior since the tour has been sketchy, at best- dropping out of races and missing appearences...
 
It's hard for me to believe there would be a sport more screwed up than baseball with regards to performance enhancing drugs, but if the ousting of all the favorites before the tour didn't prove it, this surely does.

Unbelievable.
 
This is terrible, for Floyd and the Tour de France. I guess we get to congratulate Oscar Peirero on his victory now. Really disappointing, although I'm glad they are catching people cheating. It really makes me think that the entire field is dirty, and they should just start over from scratch. Who knows, though?
 
gauchogolfer said:
This is terrible, for Floyd and the Tour de France. I guess we get to congratulate Oscar Peirero on his victory now. Really disappointing, although I'm glad they are catching people cheating. It really makes me think that the entire field is dirty, and they should just start over from scratch. Who knows, though?
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Either that or invent SuperCycling and allow them any performance enhancing drugs. At least it will be carefully monitored then.

I'm only half joking.
 
Just out of curiosity, do they drug test everyone, or just the winner and random others? I've heard that the cycling world is flooded with performance enhancing drugs, and there are no really "clean" atheletes, just ones who havent been caught yet.:mad:
 
gwuMACaddict said:
I agree, I want to see what the "B" test shows... but you have to admit, his behavior since the tour has been sketchy, at best- dropping out of races and missing appearences...
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Yeah, but if he didn't dope, then he's probably shocked himself, and trying to figure out a way to clear his name without it being tainted forever.
 
FYI, one would assume he dropped out of post tour races BECAUSE he was under suspicion, and you're not supposed to race in a such a case.

The sample at question is from his HUGE miraculous stage win, the day after his astounding loss. They test the yellow jersey and the winner of every stage, as well as a couple random riders.

I believe this test looks for abnormally high levels of testosternone/epitestosterone, not some specific drug or method of doping. Either he go depressed the previous night and took something as a last ditch effort of some sort, or his levels were so high due to natural causes, seeing as he dominated that stage.
 
He tested for high levels of test, which sometimes can be normal. I think they are still determining whether they are going to strip the title or not.
 
As I said over at the Tour-thread: This is very sad.

There is a very slim chance that the high values are caused by extreme dehydration and/or fatigue on that particular stage (it was the one where he demolished the peloton) or that there's something wrong with the A sample... very slim chance...

...if not, I just say: Ban him for life! If he's guilty it's one of the biggest disgraces in sports, ever, and they should throw all the books they have at him... :mad:
 
I can't believe people are all that surprised... the whole team has been sketchy for years...

Now that the "feel good" story is done. The ****s gonna start hitting the fan.
 
Mr. Durden said:
I've heard that the cycling world is flooded with performance enhancing drugs, and there are no really "clean" atheletes, just ones who havent been caught yet.:mad:
Click to expand...

i think that it is unfortunately correct. i don't think that any rider that won anything relevant in the last 20 years was 'clean'. legal, maybe, (because they were ahead of the curve) but not clean.
and it is actually much worse at 'lower' levels, where controls are virtually inexistent.

I so hope it's not true but i don't really believe it.
it's really sad and i am afraid it could be the final nail to the cycling coffin.

this has been discussed ad nauseam, but IMO the only way to get out of this is to
a) provide a real incentive to the riders to come out clean: complete immunity to all who admit use and make names (of doctors, team managers, other riders). rat them all out. not 'romantic' but at this point who cares.
b) suspension of any ban in the last three years. a fresh start for everybody
c) every professionals must undergo systematic tests twice a month year around, race or training and all the values are monitored (in addition to race day tests as they are now) so you can see trends and cut down on training doping. expensive, but less than the loss of revenues associated with the continuos scandals
d) incredibly harsh punishments from now on for the ones who get caught
 
Rower_CPU said:
I'm praying the B sample comes back clean. :(
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Yes remember that the results are only from test A. High testostorone does not neccessarily mean he doped. Hopefully test B comes back clean or this will be the saddest day in professional cycling ever.
 
i.Feature said:
I can't believe people are all that surprised...
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Indeed. I'm reminded of the part in Casablanca when the police chief declares, "I am shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on here!" The whole sport is so dirty that nothing surprises me.

I've spoken to a lot of national and world class track athletes, and they mostly say the same thing: there are a lot of drug cheats out there who don't get caught. But within the track and field world, the athletes all know who's doping.

Ditto baseball, sadly. It's probably better now, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that over 50%, probably way over 50% of MLB players were doping in the 90s.

In a way, I don't really care. All they're doing is beating other doped athletes, so what's the big deal? I guess it sucks for the 10% who are clean. :rolleyes:

Don't panic said:
i think that it is unfortunately correct. i don't think that any rider that won anything relevant in the last 20 years was 'clean'. legal, maybe, (because they were ahead of the curve) but not clean.
and it is actually much worse at 'lower' levels, where controls are virtually inexistent.
Click to expand...

Agreed again, and I'd say the same about any track or baseball records set in the last 15-20 years. Sad, really - especially if there really are clean athletes setting records because the Bonds' and Giambis of the world make it impossible to believe in anyone.
 
gwuMACaddict said:
errrr... why is my original post no longer the original post....?
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People had already started posting about it in the original Tour thread, and the mods split that out and merged it with your thread, which bumped you down a bit.
 
High Testosterone =/= doping (necessarily)...hopefully Landis gets to clear his name...
 
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