Landis tests positive

[Janice]

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

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

[brunota2003]

but that does not mean he did illegal drugs...it just means he had higher than normal levels of testosterone and it could be due to the legal drugs he was taking for his hip injury...or it could be that the test messed up. This was a "Stage A" test, "Stage B" will be the interesting one as it is the final test and is done in the riders presents...

[x-y-no]

I've never quite understood the tests for natural substances like testosterone or red blood cell count. How can they be sure the individual doesn't produce a high amount naturally?

Landis put out an extraordinary effort on that stage - maybe the fact of putting out such an effort could have caused this.

[Derek Ortt]

He rides for Phonak... a team which has had numerous riders suspended, including Tyler Hamilton, busted for doping. That team seems to encourage doping since many riders are caught that ride for that team, so I am not at all surprised

[Stephanie]

I hope it isn't true. This crap makes a mockery of competition and great sports events such as this one.

[Audrey2Katrina]

The body produces this hormone quite naturally and in some folks at much higher levels than others. Ya know, if this were anabolic steroids, I could see some reason for all this concern; but for something that is quite possibly the resullt of his own body's production? Seems kind of ridiculous to me!

A2K

[Derek Ortt]

Testosterone is a common doping tactic in cycling, along with Insulin

[Derek Ortt]

also, Steroids are almost never taken by the GC contenders. It makes the body too large and nearly impossible to cross the high mountains. One needs to be as light as possible to cross 5-7 major mountain passes or peaks in a day

[sunny]

Why Insulin?

[Derek Ortt]

I have absolutely no idea.

I know 1998 Giro D'Italia and Tour de France winner was suspended for 9 months for Insulin back in 2001 (one of his many doping suspensions)

[Regit]

Insulin helps the body in a number of ways. It works a lot like Human Growth Hormone, helping make the body stronger. It also helps with stamina.

There are also clinical trials that suggest insulin may help Alzheimer's.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Testosterone is a common doping tactic in cycling, along with Insulin

I'm not disputing that; what I find diffuculty in dealing with is that unless there is a way to conclusively show that it was consequent to injection/augmentation and NOT a natural hyperproduction of one's own body, then it is unfair to use as a sole reason to DQ someone. I don't know if there is any other body of evidence; but if it's based strictly on testosterone levels--it's dubious at the very least.

A2K

[Audrey2Katrina]

also, Steroids are almost never taken by the GC contenders. It makes the body too large

This is true! Just ask Barry Bonds who, if anyone, deserves far more than an asterisk

A2K

[Derek Ortt]

Landis does have the option of undergoing tests to determine if he has a natural testosterone level

However, I highly doubt it. He has never tested positive for it in the past.

Also, a doctor has recently stated that nearly all cyclists use a testosterone patch below the belt to help them recover, but with levels just low enough so that the test comes back negative

[Audrey2Katrina]

Why Insulin?

Probably for the same reason they consume such high levels of carbs in their diet. After all, carbs are long strings of complex and simple sugars, and the key to the cell (and hence the body's) source of energy is the metabolism of glucose (sugar). Insulin signals or stimulates the body's cells to take in blood sugars (which is why it is so important to diabetics)... get more of it in those cells, burn more energy. At least this is the best explanation of how I might perceive it. Insulin as an enhancement was a new one on me as well.

A2K

[Derek Ortt]

you'd be shocked what they put into their bodies

The riders are known to inject themselves with animal blood at times (which led to the Operation Puerto, Jesus Manzano's revelations), and other very dangerous substances (such as a cancer drug, EPO)

[sunny]

you'd be shocked what they put into their bodies

The riders are known to inject themselves with animal blood at times (which led to the Operation Puerto, Jesus Manzano's revelations), and other very dangerous substances (such as a cancer drug, EPO)

Oh gross. I guess they don't think of the "long term" effects of these things, just about what they can get out of it at "present".

[Audrey2Katrina]

I guess they don't think of the "long term" effects of these things, just about what they can get out of it at "present".

*sigh* This is sadly all too true. I know I've gone back and forth many times with the youth of today who want to "bulk" up as fast and easily as possible. (Had this fight several times with a couple of nephews)... they have no idea of the possible longterm effects of some of the tripe they take for that quick-fix "buff" body. Folks like McGuire, Bonds, et. al., have done a lot of today's youth an enormous disservice by not, at the very least, publicly acknowledge the wrong they may have done--or the possible negatives therein. Not to mention MLB for not taking pre-emptive action of its own in reigning in what had clearly become a problem well over a decade ago.

A2K

[sunny]

That is sad A2K. These kids want to be like their "heros".

[Janice]

LONDON (AP) -- Tour de France champion Floyd Landis tested positive for high levels of testosterone during the race, his Phonak team said Thursday on its Web site, raising questions about his victory.

The team suspended Landis, pending results of the backup "B" sample of his drug test, just four days after Landis stood on the victory podium on the Champs-Elysees, succeeding seven-time winner Lance Armstrong as an American winner in Paris.

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

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

Landis made a remarkable comeback in that Alpine stage, racing far ahead of the field for a solo win that moved him from 11th to third in the overall standings. He regained the leader's yellow jersey two days later.

Landis rode the Tour with a degenerative hip condition that he has said will require surgery in the coming weeks or months.

Arlene Landis, his mother, said Thursday that she wouldn't blame her son if he was taking medication to treat the pain in his injured hip, but "if it's something worse than that, then he doesn't deserve to win."

"I didn't talk to him since that hit the fan, but I'm keeping things even keel until I know what the facts are," she told The Associated Press in a phone interview from her home in Farmersville, Pennsylvania. "I know that this is a temptation to every rider but I'm not going to jump to conclusions ... It disappoints me."

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

Phonak said Landis would ask for an analysis of his backup 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 his team pending the results. If the second sample confirms the initial finding, he will be fired, Phonak said.

USA Cycling spokesman Andy Lee said that organization could not comment on Landis.

"Because it's an anti-doping matter, it's USA Cycling's policy not to comment on that subject out of respect for the process and Floyd's rights," Lee said. "Right now, we have to let the process proceed and we can't comment on it."

Carla O'Connell, publications and communications director for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, said: "I'll make this very brief: No comment."

Under World Anti-Doping Agency regulations, a ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone greater than 4:1 is considered a positive result and subject to investigation. The threshold was recently lowered from 6:1. The most likely natural ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone in humans is 1:1.

Testosterone is included as an anabolic steroid on WADA's list of banned substances, and its use can be punished by a two-year ban.

Landis wrapped up his Tour de France win on Sunday, keeping the title in U.S. hands for the eighth straight year. Armstrong, long dogged by doping whispers and allegations, won the previous seven. Armstrong never has tested positive for drugs and vehemently has denied doping.

Speculation that Landis had 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.