Tour de France winner 2006

floyd landis (i think) tested postive for drugs

more to follow

I was reading somthing the other day saying its almost impossible to be "clean" and compete at the top level in cycling.
i.e the're all taking something
They just have to think of new and cleverer ways of concealing the performance enhancing substances.

Tour de France winner Floyd Landis has failed a drugs test, his team has revealed. The Phonak team said that his testosterone levels were found to be unusually high in an official anti-doping test during the race. A statement from the Swiss-based team said: "The team management and the rider were both totally surprised of this physiological result."

Phonak said Landis would ask for analysis of his back-up 'B' sample "to prove either that this result is coming from a natural process or that

(Advertisement)

this resulting from a mistake."

The test was done on the evening of his victory in the 17th stage of the Tour de France to Morzine when he managed to claim the mountainous stage victory after a 130km solo breakaway.

The 30-year-old American regained the yellow jersey two days after winning in Morzine and won the race overall in Paris on July 23.

Landis has been suspended pending the results and Phonak said he would be fired from the team if the second sample confirmed the initial finding.

The Tour has been dogged by drugs problems recently, with some leading riders being suspended from the race shortly before it started because of positive tests.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/othe...ng/5221122.stm

Errmmm????

Don't all men have Testosterone already ( Except Dale Winton )

Originally Posted by tricky

I was reading somthing the other day saying its almost impossible to be "clean" and compete at the top level in cycling.
i.e the're all taking something
They just have to think of new and cleverer ways of concealing the performance enhancing substances.

i think you're right, it can be something as "daft" as a Vics Synex (which i think Alistair Baxter took in the Winter Olympics in 2002) that can give you a positive reading.

hardly Ben Jonhson type stuff is it?!

Yeah, all people have testosterone in their system, its the amounts they are worried about.

I know that Landis was on tons of Cortisone, and other steroids. This was because his hip was essentially rotting, and has been since he crashed about three years ago.
(He is getting a new hip in a few months now.)

Testosterone is another steroid. All of these "ones" look fairly similar to mass specs I think. Its possible that the abundance of cortisone in his system looked like Testosterone.
Or... for some reason he actually had naturally elevated testosterone levels.

Or, he was doping.

Who knows. The longer I live though, the more glad I made the decision (or rather had it made for me due to being a bit crap) that I was not going to spend any more time trying to be a pro rider. Its all just very sad.

It is possible to be clean and be a pro these days. It is just very very very difficult it seems. There is a culture of doping. For instance, your very own Chris Boardman was clean I have heard.

I am not going to comment about Kelly or Roche

[Biker Biggles]

Cyclists doing drugs?I don't believe a word of it.

Originally Posted by Biker Biggles

Cyclists doing drugs?I don't believe a word of it.

I suppose... cycling is my sport. I feel like its being (or has been) ruined.

I think its a wonderful sport, that there is nothing else like it. Pro riders are really phenomenal athletes, tacticians and technicians all rolled into one. The suffering, and the levels of toughness that become your daily routine are unparralelled by any other sport.

And the whole thing is becoming a laughing stock now.

Originally Posted by philipMac

And the whole thing is becoming a laughing stock now.

It's annoying the hell out of me too. I never done road cycling, but a few years ago I practically lived on a mountain bike, so I had some affinity with the sport. I wouldn't miss a Tour transmission on the telly, and still have great memories of some Marco Pantani, Laurent Jalabert, to name but two, doing what I thought impossible.

Then it all came tumbling down in drugs. Pantani's suicide, the Festina scandal...
I can honestly say I didn't sit down to watch 5 minutes worth of the Tour, this year. If someone told me 8 years ago I would be doing this, I'd laugh at their faces.

Pantani


Kelly (The Hard Man).


Merckx (The Cannibal)


LeMonde



Just wanted to get back into a good mood a little.