Landis Agrees Not to Race in Tour This Year
- Thread starter sanjuro
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OMG! He agreed not to race in France till 2008... that must mean he's guilty, off with his head... 
lthumbsdown:
Edit: to echo westy below... he's out of shape, has no team. His agreeing not to ride the tour this year seems like a no-brainer.
lthumbsdown:Edit: to echo westy below... he's out of shape, has no team. His agreeing not to ride the tour this year seems like a no-brainer.
Unless I lost track of the story it seems as though it would be an easy decision for him as he doesn't have a team.
It's all a big game. The french basically muscled them into it. The fact is the tests are f*cked up, he's being screwed, and it's going to end up being a huge legal battle that no one is going to win in.
He said he couldn't do both and win both and proving his innocence is more important.
Though obviously w/out a team, racing would be impossible. Seemed to me, even if he were offered a team spot he would pass it up in order to devote his time to clear his name in the doping charge.
Based on your quote from the article Sanjuro, I think France's anti-doping agency looks like more the culprit than Floyd. Why postpone their decision to suspend him if they believe their tests prove him guilty?
Though obviously w/out a team, racing would be impossible. Seemed to me, even if he were offered a team spot he would pass it up in order to devote his time to clear his name in the doping charge.
Based on your quote from the article Sanjuro, I think France's anti-doping agency looks like more the culprit than Floyd. Why postpone their decision to suspend him if they believe their tests prove him guilty?
Not to mention the 4 year pro tour ban would then be 5.
Here is the prediction....USADA clears him.....french convict him.....CAS has to sort out them mess......it blows up the whole system and shows how messed up the system is.
I'd feel bad for Floyd getting caught in the middle of it, but GOOD.
The system needs to be re-built. It's a joke and I'm not following it until I know it's at least as clean as 'judged' sports.
Lying scum fvckers.
Absolutely agree with you.
How can anyone trust them? To start, the rider code on the urine sample was NOT Floyd's rider code!! And that's just the start, the list of mistakes goes on. It's absurd, embarrassing and a tragedy.
While I believe he's innocent, the governing bodies will never have the facts because of the ridiculous botch job at the testing facility.
The one good thing about him getting caught in the middle is that he is going to fight to get the system corrected. I'm not sure anyone else would do that and would only care about clearing their own name.
I fear the beast he's up against will never change for the better.
Edit: It would behoove professional athletes to get behind this battle. One day it could be them being squashed by false accusations, lynched by subsequent mob-mentality and not given fair trial.
Seems other racing cyclist would want to join the fight because of how this debacle makes a mockery of their sport.
This also gives Landis (assuming he's innocent, of course) another year to get the hip back into shape. He's had a crappy year, and I'm sure his progress there isn't as fast as he was hoping.
Excellent. We'll finally have a clean TdF this year! 
LOL! I think its equal opportunity persecution really. Everyone is a target... "He had an amazing ride, hes on the dope!".
Last night someone asked Landis and the legal/science team if they were aware of another rider charged with doping at the same race but he was aquitted. If I understood correctly, the grounds for the aquittal were based on similar evidence supporting the Landis defense.
If it were me and I also didn't have the manpower, financial backing and mob-mentality support my accusers have, I'd make sure I had an arsenal before going against the beast. And that takes time to build.
Have you read the information on the FFF website?
Have you read the information on the FFF website?
They're having trouble getting all the info related to the tests.
I'll play this game.
I have no doubt the documentation was flawed. However, while Landis could certainly be exonerated based on the mishandled evidence, the average layman, like myself, has to wonder how a rider with 5 wins before 2006 wins 4 major tours; particularily how he unprecedented won the Tour: after losing 10 minutes on one day then gaining 7 minutes on the 2nd place finisher the next.
Since I believe that doping is prevelant in all major sports and testing is inadequate to stop it, I believe any rider who has even a hint of doping probably did it.
This is like Barry Bonds: is unbelieveable that a 36 year old player has the best years of career? Yes is it.
So you have not read the facts from the floydfairnessfund.org site.
For starters, the substance Landis is accused of using is scientifically proven to have zero benefits to the accomplishment he achieved in stage 17. If he were doping to win a race, this would not be the substance to take.
If you care enough to banter about this, your challenges would benefit from reading the facts.
Oh, I did read it. Did you notice I wrote that I believe the documentation behind this is flawed, and I also am very familiar with the short term effects of testosterone, as there have been scads of stories about it.
Did you know there was no test for THG, the drug which Barry Bonds took, until 2003? However did admit under oath that he did take steroids, unlike Mark McGwire. McGwire, btw, received less than 25% of the vote for the Hall of Fame, despite besting Babe Ruth's numbers.
BTW, could you name one winner of the Tour De France besides Floyd that lost 10 minutes on one stage? Could name one that lost 5 minutes?
The point I am trying to make is not that Floyd will be exhonerated of the charges. I'm saying in the court of public opinion, there is plenty of evidence for a conviction.
Lemond, who was an extremely weak team (only 2 ADR riders finished besides himself), never finished more than 80 seconds behind Fignon, which kept the time gap on the final TT to 50 seconds, which he won partly due to the use of aero bars as well as an amazing effort.
Take a look: http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_1984_1993/tdf1989.php
More important than the documentation the test was flawed, they violated there own SOPs on test to test repeatability. That's a huge no no in any chemical test it's one of the first things they teach you, if you can't repeat it, it's an invalid test you did something wrong.
oopsie: 1986
edit: I confused the 50 secs with 5min. Sorry...it was a long time ago...I'm old and senile....it seemed like 5min at the time.
Regardless, I won't write off or challenge Landis's accomplishment in stg 17 simply because it never happened before. I'm not sure about this, but wasn't LeMond's accomplishement in '86 unprecedented?
at least he's still mountain biking
Indeed! And funny you should mention that. I have a theory that his start as a mtn biker had something to do with stage 17.
Well, Lemond was the first American winner of the Tour in 1986, but the year before he had the opportunity to break away with Stephen Roche in the previous Tour but was ordered his director sportif to sit on Roche's wheel to minimize the damage the trailing Bernard Hinault would lose in time.
http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/9232.0.html
http://www.roble.net/marquis/coaching/lemond98.html
But keep in mind that that Lemond had also won a few smaller tours as well as the World Championship (just like Lance) before 1986. The talent was evident early on.
I want to you to know when Floyd Landis won that stage in the manner he did, I was heralding his victory. I was on Sierra Road in the Tour Of California as he passed by, and I think he is a funny and modest guy.
Frankly, if he does win his hearing, I probably will continue supporting him based on the fact that I have no idea if doped or not. But when a rider who has achieved only so much goes to a whole another level, usually doping is involved.