Landis!!

[Dougie Da Rosa]

Well don't know about you but Im scunnered!!! Apart from tarnishing our sport even further it gives all the folk who know nothing about cycling more scandal to throw at us!!

[Stephen Hickey]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id= ... /jul28news

[Guest fatblokeonbike]

...and how the non-cycling world is learning -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_s ... 221122.stm

[Stephen Hickey]

Dougie

 

It was always going to be interesting watching a man who, on the first rest day, announced he was waiting for a hip replacement. One of the standard treatments for severe joint pain is to give steroid injections into the joint, but his is hardly a standard case!

 

I remember either last year or 2 years ago a close up of a rider who had been stung by a bee (I think it was a US postal rider) and the comentator saying there was nothing he could take for it because all of the effective treatments were on the banned list! So what can a man waiting for a hip replacement take?

 

I was absolutely enthralled watching Landis over the last few stages and I only hope that the b sample is negative. But I agree with you Dougie........I'm at tad scunnered too

 

SH

[Guest DavieR]

Landis has given a sample that shows a high level of testosreone, the UCI recently dropped the accepted level. Testoterone is a hormone naturally produced in the body, generic testosterone can be produced in a laboratory, Landis's B test should show if it is natural or generic, he may just be someone who has a high level of testosterone, many athletes do produce high levels, Robert Millar was one of them. I think Ekimov was the rider who suffered from the bee sting to his cheek, swelled up and closed his eye, cortisone was given to him which is a banned substance so he had to retire from the Tour.

[KennyS]

I had posted elsewhere that cheats should be pursued for punitive damages by the Organisers and Sponsors as a 2 year ban, if found guilty, would not seem to be a stiff enough deterrent.

 

I think the following comment from one of the links above shows the precarious situation that the sport is in.

 

Meanwhile German television station ZDF said it might now cease broadcasting the Tour de France.

 

"We signed a broadcasting contract for a sporting event, not a show demonstrating the performances of the pharmaceutical industry," said editor-in-chief Nikolaus Brender.

 

"We are going to think about our future as broadcaster and maybe refuse to broadcast this event."

 

I appreciate that there is probably more TV coverage now than before but the Tour is still the pinacle which generates millions and not only for the Organisers and TV . This may be a a bit of posturing on the part of this particular Broadcaster (and the Germans might not be as interested in the Tour if their Golden Boy is not riding for the next couple of years anyway) but who reading this forum hasn't thought along similar lines as they hear of another doping scandal

[Peter Abraham]

He's now been sacked by Phonak

[Peter Abraham]

Oscar Pereiro Sio wins the Tour

[Guest fatblokeonbike]

Floyd Landis was interviewed by John Humphries on the "Today" programme on Radio 4 this morning, about 07.50.

Landis seems to be blaming UCI for breaking the rules on handling his specimens. "They clearly broke the rules," he says, "and their explanation is pathetic... ...the people at the lab are not objective... they have the names and numbers of the riders."

You can hear the whole interview at -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/

and click Radio 4.