Thursday, July 27, 2006
Tour de France winner Floyd Landis doped
Breaking news from the German SI newsagency suggests that Tour de France winner Floyd Landis has failed a dope test. Nothing to do with Northern Ireland but interesting for those lovers of cycling.
Update: Landis has apparently tested positive for the steroid testosterone, according to his Phonak team who say he failed the doping test after the 17th stage to Morzine which he won in spectacular fashion.
”The Phonak Cycling Team was notified yesterday by the UCI about an unusual level of Testosterone/Epitestosterone ratio in the test
made on Floyd Landis after stage 17 of the Tour de France,” said Phonak in a statement.
”The team management and the rider were both totally surprised of this physiological result. The rider will ask in the upcoming days for the counter analysis to prove either that this result is coming from a natural process or that this is resulting from a mistake in the confirmation.”
George @ 02:22 PM
I’m shocked
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 02:32 PMI think that at this stage they whole sport of cycling should be suspended (or at least thrown out of the Olympics) for bringing sport in general into disrepute.
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 02:35 PMJust cycling? How about American football, baseball ect...?
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 02:43 PMAmerican football is not and never has been an Olympic sport and they are throwing baseball (and softball) out.
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 02:49 PMIs the throwing out of baseball an American plot to stop its humiliation at the hands of countries like South Korea and, worse for them, Cuba?
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 02:52 PMMore evidence of man’s apparent inability to learn from the experience of others . So the Tour of Lance (formerly France )has now become a drug rife dance between those who’ll take a chance and those who’ll not merit a glance for just chafing their pants as they’d say in bicycling parlance.
And I’m not shocked either.
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 02:53 PMAnother cycling doping scandal is hardly a surprise. I think the Tour and professional cycling as a whole just seems impossibly corrupted by doping. With major sponsors threatening to withdraw (T mobile recently) the future of the Tour looks bleak. I do feel sad about this as i remember watching the Tour de France every year from a young age and marvelling at the physical endurance of the cyclists and the distances they covered each day over three weeks seemed mind boggling. How many of these feats were drug assisted?
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 02:58 PMim not shocked at all wasn’t lance armstrong also accused of the same thing
you may also remember that irish rider sean flynn who was caught using a 3 gear grifter at the latter stages of the race
when asked he said ...i never done nuphing
apparently frence police found stabilzers and chewing cards in his bag which were confiscated on the grounds that they enhanced his cycling skills
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 03:05 PMWasn’t Andre Shoukri banned from the Tour De France for taking drugs, or was that the Tour Of The North.
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 03:09 PMJohhny Adair was banned from going to the Weight-lifting because the authorities said that he couldn’t take dope
Fair play to Johnny -he said that if he wasn’t allowed to take John White, then he’d rather not go at all.
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 03:25 PMHow many of these feats were drug assisted?
Most of them I fear.
I watched the stage to Morzine live on Eurosport and it was one of the most fabulous sporting acheivements of this or any other year especially as he blew up the day before on La Toussuire. It would be a great pity if it was chemically assisted.
Then again, this guy has a dead hip! You do have to wonder…
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 03:42 PMJust thought - Pereiro will take Le Tour if Landis is thrown out - biggest upset ever?
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 03:44 PMOne link to Northern Ireland - local athlete Gareth Turnbull also tested positive for testosterone in May. I have previously been acquainted with Mr Turnbull and I have honestly, without exaggeration, never met anyone less likely to have taken performance-enhancing drugs. He is the straightest die you could ever meet.
So I am now a lot more dubious than I used to be about these drug tests, though when it comes to the Tour de France, nothing surprises me.Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 04:27 PMWhile drug-taking seems to have infected a whole range of sports in the professional era, cycling maintains its reputation as the worst offender. Can anyone explain why cycling in particular is so dodgy in this respect.
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 04:45 PM“Can anyone explain why cycling in particular is so dodgy in this respect.”
It’s partially because of the sheer physical endurance of the sport. Imagine cycling 60-70 miles a day non-stop for 3 weeks. Cycling up a steep hill is bad enough, but imagine ascending the highest mountains in Europe on a bike. No other sport is so demanding on the human body.
Cycling is a fine pursuit, but unfortunately tainted with drug abuse. Paul Kimmage in his exposé of doping in cycling “A Rough Ride” claims that riders were encouraged to take drugs by their own team managers. It can be easy to escape detection and in some cases the authorities even turn a blind eye.
I was disappointed to hear about Landis, but not surprised.
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 05:07 PMNorthern Sole,
Thanks for that. How long has drug-taking been been part of cycling? I have heard people allege tht it goes back as far as the early sixties.
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 05:10 PMEven before that Pith. Cocaine and amphetaminmes were in common use in the 1950s. Back then this would have been considered normal and no formal controls were imposed.
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 05:14 PMDepressing. In athletics these days, a two year ban seems to be the norm. Lifetime bans would seem to be only option if sport is not to be destroyed.
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 05:27 PMI didn’t even bat an eyelid when i heard the news...no suprise at all. I have sorta lost interest with the Tour De “Trance” in the last few years because of all the allegations.
Is it just me or does anyone elses’ calfs start twitching alternatively during the sprint finishes?
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 06:44 PMYes, but its the only time of the year i let them inside to watch TV, honest
Posted by on Jul 27, 2006 @ 06:46 PMHe’s 30 and winning his first tour.
As Homer Simpson would say: “what’re the odds?”Posted by on Jul 28, 2006 @ 09:07 AMSo Landis’ B sample has tested positive. Very dissapointing - I would throw in however that Landis was tested a number of times in the race and was fine - why did he test positive then? It’s not as if testosterone is a stimulant - it doesn’t work as a short term fix. Very curious.
Say it ain’t so, Joe. Say it ain’t so.
Posted by on Aug 05, 2006 @ 08:57 PMThe dropping of baseball and softball from the Olympic programme has robbed us of the chance of seeing the GB∋baseball and softball teams at the 2012 Olympics. What a shame - it means the Tunbridge Wells Girls Brigade Rounders team have been denied their place alongside the Yanks, Cubans and Japanese.
Posted by on Aug 05, 2006 @ 10:59 PM
