[Mackie]

From the Times today - the testosterone in the A sample was from an exogenous synthetic source.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/01/sp...rtner=homepage
If true, the results of the B sample don't really matter much. Unless he can prove someone slipped him a mickey or something.....

 

[MudGrrl]

gddmn sign in


can you pull a N8... cut and paste?

 

[Westy]

gddmn sign in


can you pull a N8... cut and paste?

http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/10627.0.html

 

[robdamanii]

Drama drama. I'm just going to wait until the official word comes down from UCI on the B sample.

 

[jonKranked]

well when you have a sex change aren't you supposed to take testosterone?

 

[Mackie]

N8 style:

New Finding Challenges Tour Champ’s Claim
By JULIET MACUR
Published: August 1, 2006

Tests performed on the cyclist Floyd Landis’s initial urine sample showed that some of the testosterone in his body had come from an external source and was not produced by his system, according to a person at the International Cycling Union with knowledge of the results.

That finding contradicts what Landis has claimed in his defense since the disclosure last week that he had tested positive for an elevated ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone during the Tour de France.

During a news conference in Madrid on Friday, Landis said, “We will explain to the world why this is not a doping case, but a natural occurrence.” He explained that the testosterone levels throughout his career were “natural and produced by my own organism.”

Landis, 30, the third American to win the Tour, captivated fans with an improbable comeback. He provided the urine samples at the center of the doping inquiry after winning Stage 17 in the Alps with a long solo attack. That performance set up his victory, as he climbed to third place over all after struggling and plunging to 11th the day before.

His urine sample from that day was divided into A and B samples. Confirmation of the A sample result is needed for a doping violation to occur. If the B sample comes up negative, the case is dropped. But the finding disclosed yesterday, based on a more sophisticated test, shed new light on Landis’s failure to pass his initial screening, and he could be subjected to punishment because he had a prohibited substance in his body.

If the B sample comes back positive, Landis will face a two-year suspension from the sport. He will also be stripped of his Tour de France title.

The French national antidoping laboratory in Châtenay-Malabry performed a carbon isotope ratio test on the first of Landis’s two urine samples provided after Stage 17, the person, who is in the cycling union’s antidoping department, said in an interview yesterday.

That test, which differentiates between natural and synthetic testosterone, was done after Landis’s ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone was found to be more than twice what is allowed under World Anti-Doping Agency rules, the person said. Regulations limit the ratio to four to one. The range for an average person is between one to one and two to one.

Landis’s personal doctor, Dr. Brent Kay of Temecula, Calif., said he hoped that the results of Landis’s carbon isotope ratio test and of the initial T/E test were false positives. He did, however, acknowledge that the initial test found a ratio of 11 to 1 in Landis’s system. He and Landis are seeking an explanation for that high level.

“I’ve seen bodybuilders with numbers 100 to 1,” Kay said. “Although Floyd’s was elevated, it’s not off the chart or anything.”

Kay said there could be many explanations for Landis’s high ratio, including a naturally high testosterone to epitestosterone level, bacterial contamination, alcohol consumption the night before the test or contamination of the specimen during testing. He could not say why synthetic testosterone might have been in Landis’s system. He said both tests could have been inaccurate.

Landis, who was in New York after canceling or postponing several talk-show appearances, could not be reached for comment yesterday. His spokesman, Michael Henson, said that Landis sent a request yesterday for the French lab to test his B sample. Landis had five business days from last Wednesday to do so.

Pat McQuaid, the president of the cycling body, which is known by its French acronym, U.C.I., said last night that the organization had contacted the French lab at 5 p.m. in Paris to see if Landis’s request had been received. When the lab said no, McQuaid said U.C.I. asked the lab to analyze Landis’s B sample, which he said was allowed under the organization’s rules. McQuaid wanted the test to be concluded before the lab closed for a two-week vacation this Friday. If the tests cannot be finished before then, the results may not come until late August or early September, he said.

“It’s a two-and-a-half-day job, and it’s imperative that the B test be done this week for the credibility of our sport, but also for the public interest,” McQuaid said. “This needs to be put to rest because there is too much innuendo, too much talk, too much damage being done to our sport. We have to get this process done quickly, so we can move on.”

The lab agreed to conduct the tests Thursday through Saturday, McQuaid said. That means that Landis’s fate may be known by the weekend.

Dr. Gary I. Wadler, a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency and an associate professor at New York University School of Medicine, said that the result of the carbon isotope ratio test already proved that there was synthetic testosterone in Landis’s system. He said that the test needs to be done only once, on either an A or on a B sample, particularly if the athlete’s testosterone to epitestosterone ratio is found to be high or if that elevated level is inconsistent with previous test results.

“The rules say that it is a violation, but if you can show that the athlete had no fault or no significant fault, there could be a mitigation of the sanction,” Wadler said. “No matter how it got there, the athlete has to show how it got into his or her body. It could have been sabotage or contaminated dietary supplements, or something else, but they have to prove how the testosterone got there.”

 

[Westy]

Maybe the testosterone came from an unborn twin.

 

[Alfred]

I still can't imagine how stupid someone that knows they will be tested has to be to try to dope during the event, if at any time.

 

[mud'n'sweat]

I still can't imagine how stupid someone that knows they will be tested has to be to try to dope during the event, if at any time.

yup, that is what bugs me the most.

 

[I Are Baboon]

Maybe the testosterone came from an unborn twin.

I saw a TV show once where a woman grew a 100 pound tumor, and the tumor had teeth and some hair. That was pretty gross.

 

[Westy]

They do it because they usually can get away with it. This isn't some crackhead smoking rocks the day before a drugtest for a job. These guys have doctors who give them drugs and masking agents in a way that they pass the tests. I'm sure they test themeselves during the year to make sure they pass. But it is probably a slippery slope and if one thing goes wrong, bam you fail.

 

[OrthoPT]

Maybe the testosterone came from an unborn twin.

Umm, conjoined twins myslexia?

 

[Westy]

I saw a TV show once where a woman grew a 100 pound tumor, and the tumor had teeth and some hair. That was pretty gross.

I have one of those, unfortunately it is my real head.

 

[douglas]

I have a race this w/e, just ordered some
http://testosteronesuspension.com/ via next day air!

 

[stoney]

Per my former Tour racing buddy:
"He knows better than to get caught. Sucks that he didn't hide it well enough."
Lack of doubt from my boy give me very little sympathy for Floyd.

 

[BurlyShirley]

America, **** yeah!

 

[urbaindk]

Maybe the testosterone came from an unborn twin.

Or maybe he is gay and had a hot beef injection?

 

[jimmydean]

But if he hadn't got caught, how sweet would "the great american comeback story" made for TV movie would have been.

I still don't understand why he used T. Maybe for his hip or something, but testosterone isn't the best thing for a road race I would think.

 

[laura]

I saw a TV show once where a woman grew a 100 pound tumor, and the tumor had teeth and some hair. That was pretty gross.

I saw a tv show once where a school nurse had her dead twins fetus stuck to the side of her head.

 

[chuffer]

Here is what makes me really wonder what is up? Merckx knew Floydie was gonna pull it off. Did he see Floyd with some patches on his sack? Does Axel M. do the same program?

Eddy Merckx was regarded as a cannibal on the bike, but the Belgian appears to be a shark off it. He stands to make a killing at the bookies after a confident flutter on Phonak rider Floyd Landis looks to have paid off.

Merckx has close ties to the team due to the fact that his son Axel Merckx races in their colours and also because the five-time Tour winner raced during his career (and worked after it) with the father of John Lelangue, who is currently Phonak's manager.

The American's team-mate Robert Hunter talked about the bet, which was placed after Landis dropped way out of the reckoning on Wednesday.

"Here is a funny story," he wrote on his website www.robbiehunter.net. "Eddy Merckx has spent a bit of time with us over the past weeks because of his attachment to the team. Today we found out that last night after Floyd lost the jersey and 8 minutes to the leader, he [Eddy] went to the bookies in Belgium and bet 100 euro that Floyd would win the Tour anyways. The odds were 75 to 1 and he is laughing so hard, now that the possibility is really there. The way Floyd raced today [Thursday's 17th stage] was like the way Eddy used to race in the old days; he said it was the best race he has seen!"

Although he will be part of the team celebrations in Paris, Hunter will miss out on finishing the Tour. He unfortunately finished outside the time limit on Saturday's penultimate stage after a saddle sore prevented him from riding in the saddle.

source: http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2006/tour06/news/?id=/news/2006/jul06/jul23news

 

[rideit]

I still can't imagine how stupid someone that knows they will be tested has to be to try to dope during the event, if at any time.

because to me, I think it is quite freakin' obvious that Lance, Indurain, and countless others got away with it for years....

 

[N8 v2.0]

Ok, I admit it... Floyd called me to get some of my testosterone after his dismal performance in Stage 16...