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Tour de France - 2006

Frayed Knot Jul 10 2006 10:36 PM

We haven't started a Tour de France thread yet (and with the World Cup over we need new ways to annoy Vic) 8 stages have been completed in this first Tour de post-Lance. It was going to be a wide-open race anyway due to Lance's retirement, and then a doping scandal took out 9 riders plus one entire team out (including 1 former champ and 3 of the top contenders) a day before the competition began. An early stage crash also took out another one of the leading contenders. The leader at this point is Ukranian sprinting specialist Sherhiy Honchar on the strength of his 1min + 1sec win in the individual time trial in stage 7 In 2nd is American Floyd Landis, exactly 1 minute behind. Landis is an interesting cat; raised a strict Mennonite in Lancaster, PA who had to sneak his bike riding in at odd hours in order to hide it from his parents, he eventually chucked his upbringing in favor of racing mountain bikes in California against the pierced nose & purple hair crowd. He's a former Armstrong teammate who left his team several years back and is now the lead rider for the Swiss-based Phonak team. Former Armstrong Lieutenant (and Long Island native) George Hincapie now leads the U.S.-based Discovery Channel team after serving as Armstrong's main support rider for all 7 Tour wins. He won a stage for the first time last year's race and briefly held the Yellow Jersey after an early stage last week in what he hopes will be his shot at the brass ring. But Hincapie faded in the time trial and now sits in 17th place 2' 30" off the pace and 20 seconds behind his teammate Paolo Savoldelli. The stages so far have been mostly of the flat variety and there's still 2 weeks left. Monday is a rest day before resuming with stage 9 on Tuesday, starting in the wine city of Bordeaux and heading south towards the Pyrenees mountains. It'll be the last flat stage for a while as a few days in the Pyrenees will followed by several more in the Alps (the direction around France is counter-clockwise this year - it alternates) which is when stuff starts to really shake out the pretenders from the contenders.

Frayed Knot Jul 11 2006 11:10 PM

No real changes in Tuesday's 9th stage as the sprinter's had their last day of fun in this tame ~105 mile flat stage before the tour hits the Pyrennes mountains on Wednesday. Spaniard Oscar Freire won the sprint to the finish by about 2 inches but remains far back in the pack. The top of the leader board remained unchanged.

MFS62 Jul 13 2006 02:56 PM

I never followed this much, even when Lance was in them. But I just heard an update on ESPN radio that caught my ear. Today they entered the toughest part of the race - the climbing. And Landis is now in third place. Seems he excells in the climbing. They went on to say that he will be getting a hip replacement after the race. After the race? My hat's off to you, Mr. Landis. Pardon my "French" but, you are one tough mother-fukker. I'm rooting for you. Later

soupcan Jul 13 2006 05:07 PM

Landis wearing the yellow jersey after today's stage.

Frayed Knot Jul 13 2006 10:50 PM

Yes he is. Wednesday's [u:f920aa7fa8]Stage 10[/u:f920aa7fa8] saw Frenchman Cyril Dessel take the stage win during the first day in the mountains as he and several other riders staged a successful breakaway and finished the stage 2+ minutes ahead of the leaders in the main pack and 7 minutes and more ahead of many of the remaining pack. It was enough to get Dessel not only the stage win but also the Yellow Jersey as the overall leader with a 2' 34" gap. But payback's a bitch and one hard day on the tour often leads to tough next day as a result - and so in today's [u:f920aa7fa8]Stage 11[/u:f920aa7fa8] - a simple little jaunt with 128 miles & 5 monster mountain climbs* - Landis and several others did the breaking away leaving Dessel nearly 5 minutes back in the pack. Landis wound up finishing 3rd in this stage to Russian Denis Menchov and fellow American (though not a teammate) Levi Leipheimer but his cumulative time was enough to put the lapsed Mennonite from Pennsylvania in need of hip surgery into the overall lead and the fancy yellow shirt. Dessel is in 2nd place 8 seconds back, and today's stage winner Menchov 1' 1" behind in 3rd. * Climbs are rated from 5 up to 1 (easiest to hardest) and then to HC; Hors Categorie (or beyond categorization). This stage had 4 Cat 1 climbs plus 1 HC climb. The 'HC' climb was an 18.3Km stretch at an avg. of 7.7% gradient 75K into the ride. The winners covered this 128 miles stage w/those 5 climbs in a shade over 6 hours.

Frayed Knot Jul 16 2006 10:31 PM

The Fri, Sat & Sun legs were flatter (w/some middle range climbs) transitional stages between the Pyrenees and the Alps - the most interesting of which was Saturday's longest-of-the-tour 143 mile jaunt. After little change on Friday, TdF leader Floyd Landis and his [u:93be7e0576]Phonak[/u:93be7e0576] team decided to conserve energy for the upcoming stages in the Alps and chose not to chase down the breakaway group in Saturday's ride as the escapees were all middle-of-the-pack types. But the breakaway group wound up finishing a whopping 30 minutes! ahead of the main pack which was enough to vault Oscar Pereiro - one of the day's aggressor's - from 46th place overall into the tour lead and at least temporary custody of the coveted Yellow Jersey. Sunday's shorter, hillier stint (118 miles with several Cat 2 & 3 climbs) saw little jockeying and no change in the lead as everyone prepared for the make-of-break assault into the Alps this week. Overall Standings at the end of Stage 14 on Sunday: Oscar Pereiro (Spain) Floyd Landis (USA) - 1' 29" behind Cyril Dessel (Fra) - 1' 37" Denis Menchov (Russ) - 2' 30" Cadel Evans (Australia) - 2; 46" Carlos Sastre (Spain) - 3' 21" Andreas Kloden (Ger) - 3' 58" Michael Rogers (Australia) - 4' 51" Juan Miguel Mercado - (Spain) - 5' 02" Christophe Moreau (Fra) - 5' 13" In addition to Lance's retirement and the drug investigation that took several of the co-favorites out before the race started, a handful of other serious hopefuls dropped out (crashes and/or exhaustion-poor performance) leading up to and during the early mountain stages. The remainder of this thing looks to be wide open. There are 6 stages left; including several in the Alps plus one final individual time trial before next Sunday's largely ceremonial (or will it be?) ride into Paris.

Frayed Knot Jul 19 2006 12:12 AM

[u:b7c177136f]Landis grabs back the lead in the Alps[/u:b7c177136f] The first day in the Alps ends with Le Tour's most famous stage - the ride up L'Alpe D'Huez. Frank Schleck - a rider from Luxembourg - wins the stage, but Landis finishes 4th just a minute and change behind and far enough ahead of the top competitors to take the overall lead. 1 - Floyd Landis 2 - Oscar Periero (10 seconds behind) 3 - Cyril Dessel (2' 02") 4 - Denis Menchov (2' 12") 5 - Carlos Sastre (2' 17") 6 - Andreas Klosen (2' 29") 5 stages left

metirish Jul 19 2006 11:51 AM

Amstrong and the french just do not like each other. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2276107,00.html

Johnny Dickshot Jul 19 2006 11:56 AM

Armstrong is a jerk.

Elster88 Jul 19 2006 12:10 PM

]LANCE ARMSTRONG, the American cyclist who won the Tour de France for a record seven times before retiring last year, is facing a wave of Gallic outrage today after describing the French football team as “assholes”. This is taken way out of context. It was part of his opening monologue for the ESPY's. He said it as part of a joke...the idea was to work in something about how the French treated him while he was there, and how they didn't like each other (they being he and the French)....since the World Cup Final involved France they used the soccer team. It also involved the steroid allegations he is facing. ]The Texan — who claims to be the victim of a smear campaign in France after being accused by the newspaper L’Équipe of using performance-enhancing drugs — had been speaking during a sporting awards ceremony for the ESPN television channel in Los Angeles last week. “All their players have tested positive for being assholes,” he said.

Johnny Dickshot Jul 19 2006 12:26 PM

I know it was a joke. But Armstrong to me is beginning to resemble Pete Rose and Barry Bonds in his strategy of self-promotion, denial and demonization of opposing viewpoints. I think the guy's full of shit, and probably full of EPO

metirish Jul 19 2006 01:02 PM

Landis drops back to 11th after the second day in the Alps. http://www.newsday.com/sports/sns-ap-cyc-tour-de-france,0,3859904.story?coll=ny-sports-headlines

Edgy DC Jul 19 2006 01:11 PM

And people dis' the ESPYs. Now that they're at the center of an international incident, maybe you'll show a little more respect, huh?

Frayed Knot Jul 19 2006 04:29 PM

There was also the seemingly requisite, now played-out, and always tasteless 'Brokeback Mountain' joke in Lance's ESPYs "monologue". 'Hey Jack Gyllenhall, what are you doing up in the front row ... I thought you liked it in the rear?' Between that and the "assholes" joke, it's just another attempt by them to generate publicity via manufactured controversy. But hey, I'm sure it played well to the assembled thugs in the audience. And remember, you can't spell tasteless publicity without: ESPYs

ScarletKnight41 Jul 19 2006 04:36 PM

="Frayed Knot"]There was also the seemingly requisite, now played-out, and always tasteless 'Brokeback Mountain' joke in Lance's ESPYs "monologue". 'Hey Jack Gyllenhall, what are you doing up in the front row ... I thought you liked it in the rear?' I certainly hope that you're making that one up.

Frayed Knot Jul 19 2006 04:44 PM

Well it sounds like Landis felt the effects of the previous day's climbing. Reportedly in control of Wednesday's ride until the final 15K, he cracked down (actually up) the stretch and faded badly - finishing 10 minutes back and losing his overall lead to the point where he sits in 11th place over 8 minutes back. Levi Leimpheimer takes over the spot as top American 1 - Oscar PEREIRO 2 - Carlos SASTRE (1' 50" behind) 3 - Andreas KLÖDEN (2' 29") 4 - Cyril DESSEL (2' 43") 5 - Cadel EVANS (2' 56") 6 - Denis MENCHOV (3' 58") 7 - Michael ROGERS (6' 47") 8 - Christophe MOREAU (7' 03") 9 - Levi LEIPHEIMER (7' 46") 10 - Haimar ZUBELDIA (8' 06") 11 - Floyd LANDIS (8' 08") Thursday sees the last of the real mountain stages, before a flatter stage on Friday, the individual time trial on Saturday, and finally the ride into Paris on Sunday.

Frayed Knot Jul 19 2006 04:45 PM

"I certainly hope that you're making that one up." NOPE

ScarletKnight41 Jul 19 2006 05:11 PM

="Frayed Knot"]"I certainly hope that you're making that one up." NOPE Unbefreakinlievable!

Elster88 Jul 19 2006 05:31 PM

="Frayed Knot"]There was also the seemingly requisite, now played-out, and always tasteless 'Brokeback Mountain' joke in Lance's ESPYs "monologue". 'Hey Jack Gyllenhall, what are you doing up in the front row ... I thought you liked it in the rear?' Between that and the "assholes" joke, it's just another attempt by them to generate publicity via manufactured controversy. But hey, I'm sure it played well to the assembled thugs in the audience. And remember, you can't spell tasteless publicity without: ESPYs Brought the house down.

Frayed Knot Jul 20 2006 04:41 PM

]Brought the house down. Sure, in a we're all celebrities so having one of our own make fun of one of our own reminds us that we're part of this elisitst club kind of way. Plus, it allows them to laugh at gay jokes while shielding themselves from homophobic charges since they'll all proclaim to love and/or starred in the movie. Meanwhile, back to the race (otherwise known as me talking to myself): WOW! One day after losing his lead and a huge chunk more as he crumbled at the end of yesterday's ride on the final climb and proclaiming to believe his chances for a victory this year to be all but over, Floyd Landis goes out on the attack starting at the first of 5 large climbs* in this last of the mountain legs, wins the stage by nearly 6 minutes over everyone, and chops more than 9 minutes off the 10+ minute deficit he faced at the end of yesterday. * 3 'Cat 1' climbs, plus 1 'HC' So did he really crack yesterday? Hard to believe that he'd give up that big an edge just to play possum and surprise everyone today. Too late in the race for that it seems to me, but that's still some comeback. Overall standings w/3 stages to go: 1 - Oscar Pereiro (Spain) 2 - Carlos Sastre (Spain) - 12 seconds back 3 - Floyd Landis (USA) - 30 seconds 4 - Andreas Kloden (GER) - 2' 29" 5 - Cadel Evans (Australia) - 3' 08" 6 - Denis Manchov (Russia) - 4' 14" 7 - Cyril Dessel (FRA) - 4' 24" 8 - Christophe Moreau (FRA) - 5' 45" American Levi Leipheimer - 20 seconds ahead of Landis yesterday - fell to 22 minutes off the pace. Flatter 122mi stage tomorrow; still some hills but much less severe and more downhill than up and probably a tough day to make up or lose much ground. Saturday's 35mi individual time trial will be the big deal. 30 seconds isn't chump change considering that you're trying to make it up on the guy leading the tour, although Landis is considered a good TT-ist.

Vic Sage Jul 20 2006 04:49 PM

Hey, LF, are those guys still busy riding their bicycles?

soupcan Jul 20 2006 11:01 PM

LF you ain't talking to yourself - I'm reading you.

Willets Point Jul 20 2006 11:07 PM

Me too - albeit all I know about competitive cycling I know from FK and a book I read last year called French Revolutions (good read, btw). It's good to see that Landis is still the leading 1-hipped cyclist.

Frayed Knot Jul 20 2006 11:33 PM

Hey it's all good, I got my annual sarcastic comment out of Vic so my work here is nearly complete anyway.

soupcan Jul 21 2006 09:07 AM

Willets Point wrote: Me too - albeit all I know about competitive cycling I know from FK and a book I read last year called French Revolutions (good read, btw). It's good to see that Landis is still the leading 1-hipped cyclist. Awesome book. Loved it. Would love to spend three weeks doing what that guy did.

Frayed Knot Jul 21 2006 10:09 AM

'French Revolutions' was a riot. The guy is a funny writer and just the thought of a non-athletic, out-of-shape Englishman trying to do the tour's route was a great set-up. Anyone interested in a more nuts-and-bolts story of 'Le Tour' should try either: * '23 Day in July' (or something like that) which traces the day-by-day goings on of one of the tours (2003 I think) or * 'Lance Armstong's War' which is obviously more Lance-specific as it follows him for the better part of a year (2004) but also, in doing so, gives you a bit of a insider's view into the somewhat cultish world of bicycle racing.

Willets Point Jul 21 2006 12:25 PM

soupcan wrote: ="Willets Point"]Me too - albeit all I know about competitive cycling I know from FK and a book I read last year called French Revolutions (good read, btw). It's good to see that Landis is still the leading 1-hipped cyclist. Awesome book. Loved it. Would love to spend three weeks doing what that guy did. I think it would take me a hell of a lot longer than three weeks. I love that he tries the whole experience even getting ephedrine so he can be a doped-up cyclist.

Elster88 Jul 21 2006 12:26 PM

No update today?

Willets Point Jul 21 2006 02:06 PM

I suppose this could go in the I Love Beer thread as well.

Frayed Knot Jul 21 2006 02:20 PM

Friday's 122mi "easy" stage with only a few small climbs saw no change in the top ranks. The overall standings headed into Saturday are still: 1 - Oscar Pereiro (Spain) 2 - Carlos Sastre (Spain) - 12 seconds back 3 - Floyd Landis (USA) - 30 seconds 4 - Andreas Kloden (GER) - 2' 29" 5 - Cadel Evans (Australia) - 3' 08" 6 - Denis Manchov (Russia) - 4' 14" 7 - Cyril Dessel (FRA) - 4' 24" 8 - Christophe Moreau (FRA) - 5' 45" This was mostly a transition/recovery stage for the lead riders with none wanting/daring to sprint away and burn themselves out with tomorrow's Time Trial stage coming up. What happens in these rides is that certain riders in the back of the overall pack sieze the opportunity to breakaway and try to win a stage which - although it won't get them close to the overall lead - it still considered a very difficult and extremely prestigious accomplishment. The also earn themselves (and their sponsors) some camera time, bonus points for winning the 'races-within-the-race' sprints & climbs that exist at designated spots during a stage, notice for future promotions, cash benefits from their sponsors, etc. Saturday's ride is the big deal. The Time Trials is the individual staggered (worst goes first) start so the usual team strategies or drafting that goes on in the usual pack starts aren't possible. It's just each rider against the clock and the leader at the end of tomorrow is likey this year's winner as Sunday's ride into Paris is traditionally mostly ceremonial. Aside from the little seen OLN network, CBS holds the USA rights to this thing but of course they won't show it while it's happening. They'll wait until late Sunday to show you something which will by then be a day and a half old. By then they'll have all their side stories pre-recorded and packaged so they can sell it to you as if a soap-opera.

Elster88 Jul 21 2006 02:23 PM

Does Landis have a shot at this thing? Is it realistic that he can make up 30 seconds in 3 stages? It doesn't seem like a lot to me, but I know nothing about cycling.

Frayed Knot Jul 21 2006 02:44 PM

]Does Landis have a shot at this thing? Yes he does, he's considered one of the top Time Trialists. He placed 2nd overall in the earlier Time Trial (back in Stage 7) beating the 2 guys currently ahead of him by 2 minutes and change. Of course there's no guarantee that this one (similar length) will produce the same results and he has to be wary of those guys behind him as well - but, overall, he probably has to be considered the favorite at this point unless he left it all in the Alps burning up that defecit the other day. That's why Thursday's ride where he broke away from the main pack on the first climb with still ~100mi to go to catch the small group who were themselves breaking away, and then broke away from them on the final climb to beat even the 2nd place rider by over 5 minutes and many of his main competitors by 8-10 minutes and more was so crucial. Long time Tour observers are finding it tough to recall such a turnaround by a rider who looked spent and out of things as Landis was at the end of Wednesday's ride. I generally don't care who wins these things (I was pretty non-committal about Lance) and usually just follow them as a 3-week change of pace - but I find myself rooting for Landis because I get the feeling that he's got a few screws loose.

MFS62 Jul 22 2006 10:20 AM

]Landis looks to regain yellow jersey in time trial July 22, 2006 AP - Jul 21, 3:18 pm EDT More Photos MONCEAU-LES-MINES, France (AP) -- Riders began Saturday's Tour de France time trial, a potentially decisive stage that could determine the winner of this year's unpredictable race. Race leaders Floyd Landis, Carlos Sastre and Oscar Pereiro, who currently holds the yellow jersey, were the last three riders set to go. The route took riders over 35.4 miles from Le Creusot to Montceau-les-Mines. Of the trio, Landis is considered the strongest in time trials and is favored to have the overall lead by Saturday evening. He trails Sastre by 18 seconds and Pereiro by 30. Landis was more than a minute faster than Sastre and nearly two minutes faster than Pereiro on stage seven's time trial. The Tour, won a record seven straight times by Lance Armstrong until his retirement last year, ends on the tree-lined streets of the Champs-Elysees on Sunday. The final stage is normally a processional ride, but if time margins between the top three remain narrow after Saturday, the Tour could go down to the wire. Landis can become the third American victor of the race, while victory for either Sastre or Pereiro would be the first for a Spaniard since Miguel Indurain's fifth and final title in 1995. Updated on Saturday, Jul 22, 2006 6:25 am EDT Show of hands, who's gonna' be watching? Later

Frayed Knot Jul 22 2006 11:21 AM

If you're going to watch a TdF stage live this would be the day to do it -- unfortunately this only limited to those who get the OLN channel, a number which is reportedly in the dozens. CBS will package all this up and show it tomorrow afternoon, a mere 36 hours after it's all over. So I'm just checking on-line: All riders in this staggered start format have now reached the 34km split (approx half way) and Landis is 2nd at that mark. But the man in 1st - Honchar, a Ukranian - is a sprinting specialist who's well back in the pack and a non-factor. What Landis has done is put up better times at that spot than the two he was trailing coming into the day, already making up 57 seconds on the leader Pereiro whom he trailed by 30 seconds, and by nearly 2 minutes on the 2nd place rider (Sastre) who was 18 seconds off the pace (ergo 12 seconds ahead of Landis). German adreas Kloden is the 4th place man and he's virtually tied w/Landis at the 34km mark, but started the day 1' 59" behind and so almost certainly has too much time to make up.

Frayed Knot Jul 22 2006 11:30 AM

At the 51.5km mark (57km total) 1 - Honchar 2 - Kloden (47 seconds back) 3 - Landis (1' 08") 4 - Pereiro (2' 38") ... Sastre - well back If this holds to the end, Landis will take approx 1 minute lead overall.

Frayed Knot Jul 22 2006 11:40 AM

The order at the end held with little change from the last split, making the overall standings going into the final day: 1. Floyd Landis (USA - PHO) 2. Oscar Pereiro (ESP - CEI) - 59 seconds back 3. Andreas Kloden (GER - TMO) - 1’ 29" 4. Carlos Sastre (ESP - CSC) - 3’ 13" 5. Cadel Evans (AUS - DVL) - 5’ 08"

Frayed Knot Jul 23 2006 11:34 PM

Well, wrapping this up, Landis did, of course, win - maintaining the near 1 minute lead through the mostly ceremonial last stage into and around Paris. 57 seconds was the official size of the win - which isn't much considering they raced for nearly 90 hours, but was sizable enough for the final day. It also makes this the 8th American win in a row and 11 of the last 21. That's something very few would have believed is told back in 1986. Kind of odd that they've all come with weird medical stories attached: LeMond won 2 of his 3 after being shot in a hunting accident; Armstrong famously was a cancer survivor; and now Landis and his soon to be replaced degenerating hip joint. I've mocked the CBS coverage of this since they only do a 1-hour weekly wrap-up show well after what they're showing has already occurred - but they actually did a pretty good job of it today. Yeah most of what they're showing is at least 36 hours late meaning it's all higlight stuff, but BB2N should be so thorough (and have a s good announcers). And since it's unrealistic to think that a major outlet will bid for everyday rights to such a niche event (OLN has those) it's about the best they could do.

MFS62 Jul 27 2006 12:01 PM

Landis steroid concern: http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news;_ylt=Avgtp9Dip8VbeG4AGMcs7IA5nYcB?slug=ap-landis-doping&prov=ap&type=lgns Later

SteveJRogers Jul 27 2006 10:23 PM

Guess SI can scrap those plans of making Landis the Sportsman of The Year this year! (They did it for LeMond and Armstrong)

Willets Point Jul 28 2006 11:06 AM

SteveJRogers wrote: Guess SI can scrap those plans of making Landis the Sportsman of The Year this year! (They did it for LeMond and Armstrong) He would finish second to NL and World Series MVP David Wright anyhow.

Edgy DC Jul 28 2006 11:35 AM

SteveJRogers wrote: Guess SI can scrap those plans of making Landis the Sportsman of The Year this year! (They did it for LeMond and Armstrong) Multiple winners both, whose "year" was the culmination of a great multi-year run of success and an astounding health recovery.

soupcan Jul 28 2006 11:56 AM

I really don't want to believe that Landis did anything wrong here, but I wanted to believe Tyler Hamilton too and it turned out that he was a big fat doping liar. Everything I've read seems to doubt that Landis did anything wrong. Doctors quoted say that it doesn't really make sense for a variety of reasons and that the high levels of testosterone could very well be normal in his personal physiology. Landis has come out and professed innocence. His Mennonite parents are also confident that he did no wrong (would he lie to his own mother?). What I don't like about this is that the French or the UCI or whoever is the governing body here released the test results of the A sample before confrming the result after testing the B sample which has yet to be done. Lets say the B sample comes back negative and Landis is cleared of wrongdoing. As a result of the irresponsible releasing of the A sample results prematurely Landis will not have been able to reap the fruits of his labor be it simple elation or endorsement $$. The French suck

Frayed Knot Jul 28 2006 03:00 PM

I don't know what to think about this one. ESPN had some "cycling expert" on yesterday (don't know if he was a covering journalist or some ex-cycler acting as an authority) who said that Landis's testosterone level was NOT high but that his [u:ffe5f445e8]epitestosterone[/u:ffe5f445e8] level (??) was unusually low making the ratio between the two out of whack which is what triggered the "positive" failure. Where he got that info is as much a mystery to me as why this whole thing got out in the first place. Most other places are reporting it as simply "high testosterone levels" but that might just be ignorance/laziness. Seeing as how they have to check the back-up sample before anything is confirmed it seems to me that none of this should be public yet. Why this "T/E" ratio would be far too high on this one particular day and not the others also seems odd. I assume he was checked on other days as well and things were OK or else we'd have heard about those also. Many amatuer observers are pointing to the fact that the positive result came on his 'comeback' day as proof that he took something except that performance enhancers generally aren't a one-day thing where you'd gulp/rub/inject something in the morning and be superman that afternoon. ESPN's guy (forgot his name) suggested that maybe something caused his "epi" level to suddenly drop which would cause the out of whack ratio while still not really be performance enhancing. In any case, they have to wait for the "B" sample to be tested although, like Soup said, he's already stained by this no matter how it turns out. I'm sure he's going to continue to deny doing anything illegal and that the "crime" is a ratio level rather than finding a specific something that's not supposed to be there it's going to keep this in enough of a gray area to cause all kinds of accusations, appeals and denials for a good length of time.

Edgy DC Jul 28 2006 03:50 PM

]...except that performance enhancers generally aren't a one-day thing where you'd gulp/rub/inject something in the morning and be superman that afternoon. I'd think, though Matt Lawton (for what it's worth), seemed to say, if I correctly recall, he doped up for the first time one night, had the night of his Yankee career the next, and then got caught the next day. And what we're talking about here for a cylist is a different sort of performance enhancement than slugging power. But I'm way outside my field of expertise here.

Elster88 Aug 01 2006 10:15 AM

Landis' urine is showing a "synthetic testosterone". [url=http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/news/story?id=2535787]Link[/url]

Willets Point Aug 01 2006 10:16 AM

I thought it might be the beer and whiskey that raised the testosterone. Of course if that was the case he would've been doing wheelies and picking fights with the other racers.

Johnny Dickshot Aug 01 2006 10:38 AM

Pro cycling is a joke and its athletes are frauds. If Landis wasn't such a liar to begin with he'd admit everything and take down his self-promoting bullshit artist "champion" predecessor too.

Elster88 Aug 17 2006 09:07 AM

Floyd Landis' team couldn't find a sponsor and had to close up shop.

metirish Aug 17 2006 09:52 AM

His father- in-law commited suicide. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/more/08/16/bc.cyc.landis.relatived.ap/index.html