Phonak confirms Landis rider in question
The Phonak Cycling Team confirmed Thursday that Tour de France winner Floyd Landis is the rider who submitted a positive "A" sample following the 17th stage of this year's Tour de France. The UCI revealed Wednesday that the anti-doping laboratory at Châtenay-Malabry in Paris discovered an "adverse analytical finding" in a doping control taken during the 93rd Tour. "The adverse analytical finding received on Wednesday morning relates to the first analysis and will have to be confirmed either by a counter-analysis required by the rider, or by the fact that the rider renounces to that counter analysis," the UCI statement said. A positive "A" sample is only the first step in the process and does not constitute proof of any rider's use of performance-enhancing substances.
The Phonak Cycling Team issued the following statement Thursday, confirming Landis as the rider in question:
The Phonak Cycling Team was notified yesterday by the UCI of an unusual level of Testosteron/Epitestosteron ratio in the test made on Floyd Landis after stage 17 of the Tour de France.
The Team Management and the rider were both totally surprised of this physiological result. The rider will ask in the upcoming days for the counter analysis to prove either that this result is coming from a natural process or that this is resulting from a mistake in the confirmation. In application of the Pro Tour Ethical Code, the rider will not race anymore until this problem is totally clear.
If the result of the B sample analysis confirms the result of the A sample the rider will be dismissed and will then pass the corresponding endocrinological examinations. Please understand that we cannot at this time give you more detailed comments.
2 comments:
Alrighty, so here goes the obligatory conspiracy theory.
I just posted about how the French hate that Americans are winning their tour. Well, they hate that anyone non-French is winning it, but especially us "brash" Americans.
Isn't it funny, that in a year where cycling has been racked by claims of doping, after Armstrong successfully saved himself again, and the Tour de France nearly collapsed before the race began due to expulsions, that the winner is the ONLY rider accused of doping??
Why would a rider known to have a clean record, riding in a Tour racked with controversy and under the spotlight more than ever, who already rode well enough to be a contender, jeopardize it all with doping?? It just doesn't make logical sense to me.
Now, people don't always act logically, and Landis could be guilty. But, it also seems logical that a French press, seeing the Americans win again, even after the French riders perfomed so well this year, would love to jump on anything. Also, the French tour organizers, and other people in the UCI, might want to see someone other than Landis on the podium??
Just a thought.
I believe that the French organization that controls the Tour would ENJOY seeing a nationality other than the United States.
Post a Comment