Cycling - Floyd landis - Tour champ had high testosterone le

[maj69er]

Associated Press
Posted: 28 minutes ago


LONDON (AP) - Tour de France champion Floyd Landis tested positive for high levels of testosterone during the race, his Phonak team said Thursday.

The statement came a day after the UCI, cycling's governing body, said an unidentified rider had failed a drug test during the Tour.

The Swiss-based Phonak said in a statement on it Web site that it was notified by the UCI Wednesday that Landis' sample showed "an unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone" when he was tested after stage 17 of the race last Thursday.

It was on that mountain stage where Landis staged a stunning solo breakaway to overcome a huge deficit and put himself in position to win the Tour.

"The team management and the rider were both totally surprised of this physiological result," the statement said.

Phonak said Landis would ask for analysis of his backup "B" sample "to prove either that this result is coming from a natural process or that this is resulting from a mistake."

Landis has been suspended by the team pending the results. If the second sample confirms the initial finding, he will be fired from the team, Phonak said.

Landis won the Tour de France on Sunday, keeping the title in U.S. hands for the eighth straight year. Lance Armstrong, long dogged by doping whispers and reports that he has vehemently denied, won the previous seven.

Landis went into the 17th stage in 11th place, trailing Spain's Oscar Pereiro by more than eight minutes after cracking badly in the previous day's stage. But he went on the offensive on one of the hardest Alpine stages, breaking free of the pack and racing to a spectacular solo victory in Morzine.

That performance vaulted Landis into third place overall, within 30 seconds of the lead. He claimed the leader's jersey in the time trial on Saturday and cruised to victory the next day with a 57-second advantage on the Champs-Elysees.

Pereiro finished second and Germany's Andreas Kloden third.

Speculation that Landis may have tested positive spread earlier Thursday after he failed to show up for a one-day race in Denmark on Thursday. A day earlier, he missed a scheduled event in the Netherlands.

On the eve of the Tour's start, nine riders — including pre-race favorites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso — were ousted, implicated in a Spanish doping investigation.

The names of Ullrich and Basso turned up on a list of 56 cyclists who allegedly had contact with Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, who's at the center of the Spanish doping probe.

[notter]

if they knew he failed why did they wait until the tour was over to announce this?

It's really sad if this is true, i can't think of a single athlete that I could respect and look up to anymore. Everyone is a liar and a cheat.

[maj69er]

if they knew he failed why did they wait until the tour was over to announce this?

It's really sad if this is true, i can't think of a single athlete that I could respect and look up to anymore. Everyone is a liar and a cheat.

Thay always announce it afterwards. I dont trust the french they have it in for american riders since lance armstrong won all of them tours. remember when that newspaper printed crap saying they knew he was taking drugs when he won his first race. Total bullshit IMO. I personally respect lance armstrong more for what he has done for helping cancer sufferers and their fmailies than the amount of races he won...Why doesnt cycling bring its drings policies in line wuth the International Olympic organisation???

[budworth22]

Armstrong had altered DNA, done by Bristol Myers during his "cancer" treatment.