2006 Tour de France

[Russ Smith]

The results are in, and he's a cheater..... they found synthetic testosterone in his urine from the second sample.

What a loser

He must have got a massage from the same person Justin Gatlin did.

 

[arthurracoon]

Sample B will start being tested on Thursday

Results are expected to be released on Saturday

 

[Russ Smith]

Sample B will start being tested on Thursday

Results are expected to be released on Saturday

Landis' attorney is now citing extreme dehydration as a possible reason for the failed test.

I'm just waiting for the 2nd hand smoke defense, "he was in a room with others who were doping, maybe he got it through osmosis?"

 

[Djaughe]

Landis' attorney is now citing extreme dehydration as a possible reason for the failed test.

I'm just waiting for the 2nd hand smoke defense, "he was in a room with others who were doping, maybe he got it through osmosis?"

I like the "vengeful massage therapist used testosterone cream" defense.

 

[Russ Smith]

I like the "vengeful massage therapist used testosterone cream" defense.

his lawyer is hysterical. He's said that Landis was drinking beer and whiskey prior too and that may have elevated his test results. They hired a doctor to represent Landis and he came out and admitted that the dehydration defense was silly, that he'd never ever heard of a case where a marathon runner or tennis player tested positive after competing when they often are severely dehydrated. And it turns out on the leg of the race in question Landis himself was quoted as saying because he was riding all by himself, he drank more water than usual because it was so easy for him to get to the team car to get the water. He said it was a real advantage as he was able to hydrate himself throughout the race. and now his lawyer says severe dehydration caused the result?

The doctor admitted it was likely that the B sample would also test positive for steroids, but they insist that doesn't mean Landis cheated.

 

[boisesuns]

looks like "B" is the same. Landis is fired by his team, and banned from cycling for 2 years, and also may lose his title.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

"Landis' 'B' sample had synthetic testosterone; title in jeopardy"

http://www.sportsline.com/cycling/story/9586730

 

[Russ Smith]

He told Good Morning America he regrets the "kitchen sink" defense he's been offering up to now but says he didn't have enough warning that the results were being announced to properly research before offering possible explanations.Thus the whiskey, dehydration(which he says was NOT his idea and he agrees it's silly) and other defenses he's offered up to date.

He says the only plausile explanations are either the tests don't work, or something happened to the urine sample, and he says it appears that maybe UCI or WADA has an agenda(framing Americans who win the TDF).

 

[devilalum]

He told Good Morning America he regrets the "kitchen sink" defense he's been offering up to now but says he didn't have enough warning that the results were being announced to properly research before offering possible explanations.Thus the whiskey, dehydration(which he says was NOT his idea and he agrees it's silly) and other defenses he's offered up to date.

He says the only plausile explanations are either the tests don't work, or something happened to the urine sample, and he says it appears that maybe UCI or WADA has an agenda(framing Americans who win the TDF).

I'll buy this. They hate Americans, they hated Lance winning all those years.

If the French saw that a new American was going to win they'd switch samples.

Conversely why would Landis try and take something right in the middle of the race? He knew he would be tested.

And why is it wrong for him to keep creating ideas for how he might of failed the test? If this happened to you wouldn't you be trying to figure out why? Wouldn't you try and think of every possible explanation?

 

[Russ Smith]

I'll buy this. They hate Americans, they hated Lance winning all those years.

If the French saw that a new American was going to win they'd switch samples.

Conversely why would Landis try and take something right in the middle of the race? He knew he would be tested.

And why is it wrong for him to keep creating ideas for how he might of failed the test? If this happened to you wouldn't you be trying to figure out why? Wouldn't you try and think of every possible explanation?

In reverse, Landis said he understood that the constantly changing excuse makes him sound more guilty, because he sounds like he's just throwing out ideas hoping one will sink, thus his use of the "kitchen sink" as in he's tried everything but. Essentially he sounds like a guy grabbing at straws.

Regarding the French hatred of Americans, how come everyone conveniently forgets 1999 when Lance Armstrong tested positive for a cortical steroid that was NOT listed on his paperwork(he wrote the French word for NONE on his form under prescription medicines being taken), and was allowed to finish the TDF anyways, which he won? Armstrong got the UCI to proclaim that he was taking a cream for saddle sores that contains the cortical steroid, that he had a prescription for it, and it was approved. In fact the rules quite clearly stated that if you don't list it on your medical forms before the race, you will be removed from the race if you're using it. Under TDF rules Lance should have been yanked from the race and suspended, but he wasn't.

If you read LA confidential there's a long story in there from a former assistant to the team who talks in detail about how panic stricken they were when they found out Lance had tested positive, she says he told her he'd been taking it for weeks, it hadn't shown in his last race tests, so he assumed he was safe. He then coerced a UCI official to backdate medical forms that they faxed to the TDF people showing that he had an approved prescription for the creme, which in fact was NOT true.

The point is, if the French really hated Americans, why in the world did they make an exception in 1999 for LA? They were completely within the rules to rule him out of that race, even with the forged medical docs, but they let him continue.

The defense Landis is using now, that someone spiked my sample, is a very slippery slope because if you allow it without proof that someone DID spike it, you have given away the ability to EVER suspend anybody for doping. That excuse is always available, at some point you always have to trust that the people responsible for the testing, aren't corrupt, or you may as well not test.

As to why Landis would take something, who knows, he did come off a memorable "bonk" in the prior leg, he had a seriously painful hip injury, it's quite possible he took something to help him recover, responded with an epic leg, and then got caught.