http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news?slug=ap ... &type=lgns



Wonder if they will acuse him of also doping.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_s ... 221122.stm


Ouch.

An american Tour winner was tested positive? Now here's a shocker...

HAHA even his mom is disappointed at him.

oh man

TAKE THAT FRANCE!

YOU TOO AMERICA!!!

HAH!

Considering that Landis is with the Phonak team which has a history of doping (Hamilton, Camenzind et al.) and was before that with U.S. Postal it can't come as a surprise. I hope this will finally open the eyes to everyone that it is not possible to win the Tour De France without doping. I'd go as far as saying that in the last 20 years there hasn't been a clean winner - and yes, that totally includes your beloved Lance Armstrong.
It is sad that they probably won't change anything. They need to fund all international anti-doping agencies with far more funds. I doubt a country like the US among others will do that. The whole sport system would collapse with it. What people tend to forget is that it is not only cycling, it is track and field and cross country skiing and swimming among others as well. I can only laugh during women's sprints when they still list the world record of Florence Griffith-Joyner there. Only a delusional mind can believe that they were achieved cleanly. Same goes for most of the swimming records and I seriously doubt that our german cross-country-skiiers are clean athletes.
I love sports, but the growing doping business totally diminishes the fun of watching most sporting events.

ZDF should drop the Tour de France until it cleans up its act. Hit them financially; that'll make them wake up.

Landis insisted today on a press conference he was clean and his testosterone level had natural causes. A joke I say. Accoring to some insider information retrieved by a german tv station Landis had a testosterone level of 12:1. Allowed is 4:1

This is for you Levy...

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KkR_IXrXO8g" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed>

Well this just opens up a huge sore spot with me. I think, like you, that most athletes are on performance enhcing drugs. Explain this to me...how is it that an athlete can run 9.79 and then get caught for steroid usage, but a man can now run 9.78 and be clean? You can't. The thing is now that they have found better ways to mask it. I agree with you levy. This is a huge problem and it will never be cleaned up.

This is a three part post.

Part 1 - as a disclaimer to part two - I don't especially agree with the thought that Lance was a user. Yes, All I have to support that is the fact that there are no failed tests, and that every accusation to date has been discredited or defeated in court. And the fact that you CAN'T prove a negative. Perhaps I'm naive, but it does seem to me that plenty of people entered and finished this race long before there ever was an incentive to dope, and the fact that the sport is riddled with idiots now in no way supports the conclusion that all must therefore be on something. There are the occasional rare individuals who could rise above the throng, and that is as true now as it was 50 years ago. My two cents. I'm not really going to argue or try to convince anyone who is on the other side of this, because the real problem is the one I cover in the next part.

Part 2 - The real problem is not whether Lance or any other specific rider is doping. The real problem in my mind here is that the sport of cycling is now so corrupt that one might reasonably conclude they are all cheats. And I'll take that to its logical conclusion: it also tarnishes those who rode before any of this crap was even available as one could just as easily ask of them if they were "virtuous" only because there was no other choice. The real damage here is the witch hunt mentality that now assumes guilt and those accused must instead prove their innocence; that no rider is ever considered clean as a default. And all the while we wonder what we are watching and what anything now means. This should be a wakeup call not only to cycling but the rest of the sports world where the danger truly is. The incentives to cheat this way must be understood, and they must clearly understand that things must be dealt with before their sports reach the same point. And much as I think Dick Pound is an idiot in some ways (perhaps you might want to review the notion of due process, sir), he is clearly right about one thing: testing will not eliminate the drugs. The only thing that will eliminate them is the knowledge that their use will eventually be found combined with penalities so severe that only the most idiotically stupid would ever consider the risk. For cycling that almost clearly means a career death penalty on first offense. I only hope that proper care is taken to insure that such punishment falls on the truly guilty.

Part 3 - Mr. Landis - for your sake I can only hope you are telling the truth and the B sample clears you. And if you cheated, please, at least show the race the honor it deserves by owning up and fading away, to make amends for the dishonor you gave it in competition.

And if the B Sample shows that it is negative, how does that exonerate him and clear his name?

Im surprised no one has mentioned that his testosterone levels weren't actually high, but that his epitestosterone levels were low, hence the positive result. Of course I heard that from an American cycling analysist on ESPN, which no one here will think of him as unbiased.

What they should do, as far as cycling goes: If a team has two or three riders tested positive (like Phonak), they should be banned from the sport. If a rider gets tested positive he shouldn't be banned for two years, he should also lose a certain amount of money he won/earned in that year or the years before. Hurt them where it counts.
Riders like Basso or Ullrich who were excluded from the Tour because of Doping accusations laugh only if they get banned. Hell, Ullrich earned 20 Million Euro so far, it doesn't hurt him. As long as people can earn Millions before they get caught, others will try to cheat as well

http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news?slug=ap ... &type=lgns

There are now reports that the testosterone in question was synthentic. Which rhymes with pathetic.

quel surprise.

B Sample positive. Good Bye, Mr. Landis!!

I think you're the only one that cares anymore...

It was the fucking massage oils!!!!!!!!!

Not true, but until we get the next "the dog ate my tour de france" excuse, there is not much more to say. At this point I'm curious how stupid the excuses will get. I think ""spiked water bottle" should be the next one.

Or whether he will just fess up. Synthentic + 11-1 is pretty much case closed.

He's currently playing the Anti-American card

It's the second best thing to Lance Armstrong!

Who cares? Armstrong was doped, Ullrich was doped, I bet that Klöden is doped as well. It's not about America, it's about cycling. What I really hate is that people still defend Armstrong just because he wasn't tested positive. He tricked the tests, that doesn't make him a clean sportsman. The system is flawed and there will always be more people to get through without getting caught than those who are found guilty. Landis isn't any dirtier than Armstrong, he's just dumber.

So true, and we've waited to long to crack down that is going to be impossible to go back.



I know everyone harps on you for Armstrong, but you ahve clearly been yaing foever that cycling is one of the dirtiest sports in terms of doping, and I agree with you. If Americans think Baonds and Baseball is issue, take a look at the cycling.

Its sad because Landis' come from behind win couold have been a great story for sports, and now just like so many things its tainted and ugly. Its hard to enjoy sports anymore because what you see its not neccessarily an impressive feat, but people doing dangerous things to their body. But as you say, as long as they can make money and we just slap them on the wrists little will change.