Floyd Landis Drug Test Watch Thread

Landis test shows he was three times over limit MICHAEL BUTCHER

IF THE result of the B sample expected today of Floyd Landis's urine confirms the A positive, he is likely to become the first Tour de France winner to be relieved of the title.

The International Olympic Committee laboratory at Châtenay-Malabry also carried out a carbon isotope test which confirmed that the testosterone present in Landis's body was not a product of his own system, but was synthetic. In other words, it was administered.

The lab also revealed the massive dose of testosterone in the winner's system. The test for testosterone measures the ratio between the naturally occurring epitestosterone to testosterone. The ratio in a normal person stands at 1:1. Landis's was a resounding 11:1. The acceptable limit has recently been lowered to 4:1.

The American is protesting his innocence, claiming that research will exonerate him and that he suffers from a thyroid condition. However, he has been tested dozens of times in the past, including six times on the Tour and never produced these results.

His team, Phonak, is standing by him, at least until the result of the B test becomes known.

Landis is the eighth rider wearing the Phonak colours to be banned or suspended. Among those the company has already fired is Olympic gold medallist Tyler Hamilton.

Landis tested positive after his miraculous performance on stage 17 of the Tour.

The day before, a clearly distressed Landis had lost ten minutes in the mountains, but the following day, to general surprise, he got away from the peloton on the flat and continued to hold the differential he had built up in the mountains. All that remained for him to do was, as expected, win the time trial easily on the penultimate day and enter Paris in triumph.

"What I need to prove now," said Landis, "is there are variations in my testosterone-epitestosterone level that are out of the ordinary."

He has since let it be known that he drank a couple of beers and four whiskies the night before his surprising recovery in the Tour. If that is a strand of his defence, he might want to think again. US sprinter Dennis Mitchell tried the same argument in 1998, throwing in the added circumstance that he had also made love several times, all of which contributed to his high testosterone
http://sport.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1107492006

 

Latest excuse: Dehydration.

I'll give Landis and his lawyers credit for throwing out as many possible excuses as they can think of. Maybe they'll eventually land on one that will stick.

 

Dehydration?

Isn't this getting a little ridiculous? It's time to either come clean or shut the fuck up until you decide what defense to actually take.