Landis Says HeÂ’s Innocent of Doping
NY Times Article (
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/28/sport ... OFdu63uI9A)
By JULIET MACUR and CARLA BARANAUCKAS
Published: July 28, 2006
Floyd Landis, the Tour de France winner who tested positive for illegally high levels of testosterone, unequivocally denied that he had used any banned substances to enhance his performance in the race.
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Floyd Landis speaking at a news conference today.
“I would like to leave absolutely clear that I am not in any doping process,” Landis said in a news conference in Madrid today.
He asked that cycling fans and the news media wait to draw any conclusions about his case until further tests are carried out. He said he had requested that a backup urine sample be tested immediately and that he would have representatives monitor the test to make sure it is carried out accurately.
On Sunday, Landis became the third American cyclist to win the Tour. But three days after his victorious ride into Paris, his celebration ended when he learned that one of his urine samples showed an abnormal ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone. The sample was collected on the evening of Stage 17, the day Landis improbably climbed to 3rd place from 11th in one of the greatest performances in cycling history.
The Phonak team, based in Switzerland, suspended Landis and said on Thursday that it would fire him if a backup test confirmed the initial result. Landis would also lose his Tour title and the accolades that go with it, including worldwide celebrity and lucrative sponsorships.
If, however, there is no confirmation of the first result, the process will end and the 30-year-old Landis will be cleared.
Landis said today that he, like many athletes, has naturally high levels of testerone. He also insisted that he has never been involved in doping and has high regard for cycling because it is a “clean” sport.
“I’m proud of the fact that I won the Tour because I was the strongest guy there,” Landis said.
Speaking from Europe on Thursday in a teleconference with reporters, Landis said a “disastrous feeling” swept over him when he heard about his positive test. He said he had never used performance-enhancing drugs and was mystified by the abnormality of his testosterone level.
He said he and his personal doctor, Dr. Brent Kay, were looking for possible explanations. Among them, they speculated, were Landis’s use of thyroid medicine for previously diagnosed hypothyroidism and his consumption of alcohol the night before Stage 17. Dr. Kay said that in his initial research, he learned that the test for testosterone levels has a “long history of inaccuracy.”
The Phonak team said it would ask the laboratory to analyze LandisÂ’s B sample. That analysis, the team said, would prove that the result was a mistake or that Landis has a naturally high testosterone level.
“I don’t look for sympathy,” Landis said. “All I’m asking for is that I be given what everybody in America has been accustomed to: innocent until proven guilty, rather than the way cycling is normally treated.”
Landis was a teammate of Lance ArmstrongÂ’s during three of ArmstrongÂ’s seven consecutive Tour victories. But as a leader of his own team, in Stage 17 of this yearÂ’s Tour, Landis roared back into the overall lead pack after falling more than eight minutes behind the leader the day before. He said there was no special reason for his performance.
“There are 20 stages of the Tour, and every day you see a fabulous performance,” he said. “Explain the other 19.”
Whatever the reason for the comeback, his subsequent victory became the feel-good story that the Tour needed, particularly after the way the race had begun.
Stage and overall leaders, along with random participants, are tested each day. I can't imagine he'd be stupid enough to try to escape notice. There's another urine sample to be tested. If it also turns out positive, then he loses everything. Unfortunately, people aren't innocent until proven guilty. Landis is forever tainted by this, whether he used steroids or not.
