The results of the tests on Floyd Landis’ “B” sample will be released at 05:00 EDT on Saturday, August 5. As soon as I wake up, I will post the results here.
In the meantime, Landis’ doctor, Dr. Barry Kay, reportedly told the media that Floyd’s “A” sample tested at a T/E ratio of 11:1. The UCI limit is 4:1. Most laypeople have a ratio of 1:1 or 2:1, but the doctor says that he has seen bodybuilders with ratios of 100:1!
Here are the links to some of the products I talked about on the last show about road rash:
Bioclusive (Johnson & Johnson)
I hope this information is useful (and that you don’t need it soon)!
For The Week of July 31, 2006
In this show’s news: Floyd Landis Tests Positive for Testosterone; Record-holding Runner Tests Positive Too; Astana Riders Cleared; Leipheimer Moves to Discovery for 2007 Season; Tour of Deutschland; Vattenfall Cyclassics; Frankie Andreu Fired; London Mayor Wants Bicycle License Plates; Girls Gone Wild Bus Hits Cyclist.
In the feature section: The proper care and feeding of Road Rash; Flip4Mac for Intels Available; Shout Outs.
Podsafe Cycling Music: The Ride by Sean Mormello.
Don’t forget to vote for The FredCast for a People’s Choice Podcasting Award July 28 – August 11!
You can listen to the show directly by clicking here, you can subscribe to it in iTunes, or you can use the RSS feed in whatever pod catching client you use.
Show Notes are available HERE.
I thought I would look back and see what all this Podcast Alley voting really means. Here are the stats for The FredCast over the past few months:
Considering the fact that Podcast Alley is currently tracking about 23,000 podcasts and 1,000 in the Sports category, I think these numbers are spectacular! Thank you all for your support and for voting!
The voting has begun for the 2006 People’s Choice Podcasting Awards (the Oscars of the podcast world). Please click the link at left, or CLICK HERE to vote for The FredCast and all of your favorite nominated podcasts.
You are allowed to vote once per day, so please vote everyday.
Thank you for all of your support, and may the best podcast (ahem) win!
Floyd Landis held a press conference today in Spain to protest his innocence in cycling’s latest doping scandal. He says that the testosterone was produced naturally by his own body and that he will request an immediate test of his B sample.
Floyd will also appear tonight on CNN’s “Larry King Live” at 9:00 pm Eastern / 6:00 pm Pacific to discuss his career, the Tour de France victory, and the allegations that he doped in order to win the Tour. I’m not usually a Larry King fan, but I think I will watch tonight anyway.
When I first saw the article today my initial response was, “is this a joke? He can’t be that stupid!”
It’s not a joke.
According to every reliable news source in the world, Floyd Landis tested positive for testosterone after Stage 17 of the 2006 Tour de France (remember? the one where I said that he had “more tricks up his sleeve?”). This has even been confirmed by Team Phonak.
We will now await the test of his B sample, and if that tests positive too, I suppose he’ll be stripped of his yellow jersey. In the meantime, he has been suspended by Phonak and will be fired if the B sample tests positive too.
The Phonak web site has been impossible to reach all day (too much traffic, I suppose), but Velo News printed the following statement from Team Phonak:
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.
There’s a great story over on Sports Illustrated’s web site that I highly recommend. It gives you hope that perhaps Floyd did not actually partake of any added testosterone that isn’t already naturally occurring in his body. Like Austin Murphy, the writer of that article, I sorely want to believe Floyd’s denial of guilt, but only time will tell.
Today’s final stage of the 2006 Tour de France was, as expected, entirely ceremonial. Floyd Landis toasted with champagne as he rode into Paris and none of the four major prize classifications/jerseys changed after the results of the stage were in.
Of course, there was a sprint finish to end the stage, with Thor Husovd edging Robbie McEwen and Stuart O’Grady, but the man of the day was Floyd Landis. Floyd becomes the third American to win the tour and the first to do so with a hip that is in need of surgery.
So at the end of three weeks of racing, here is the final General Classification:
1. Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak 89:39:30
2. Oscar Pereiro (ESP) Caisse d’Epargne 0’57”
3. Andreas Kloeden (GER) T-Mobile 1’29”
4. Carlos Sastre (ESP) CSC 3’13”
5. Cadel Evans (AUS) Davitamon-Lotto 5’08”
6. Denis Menchov (RUS) Rabobank 7’06”
7. Cyril Dessel (FRA) AG2R 8’41”
8. Christophe Moreau (FRA) AG2R 9’37”
9. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP) Euskaltel 12’05”
10. Michael Rogers (AUS) T-Mobile 15’07”
Green Jersey Winner: Robbie McEwen
King of the Mountains: Michael Rasmussen
Best Young Rider: Damiano Cunego
When Floyd Landis started today’s 19th stage, the third and final individual time trial of this year’s Tour de France, he had one goal in mind: erase the 30-second deficit keeping him out of the yellow jersey and build a lead as big as possible. And that is exactly what he did.
Oscar Pereiro, Spain’s man of the week (IMHO), rode the time trial of his life today in the hopes of retaining his lead and heading into Paris in yellow. Unfortunately for him, Floyd Landis rode even better.
The stage victory went to T-Mobile’s Sergei Gonchar (UKR) who tore up the pavement and set a blistering pace that simply could not be bested. Second place in the stage went to Gonchar’s T-Mobile team mate, Andreas Kloden (GER), with Landis taking third place.
At this point, Floyd Landis is now poised to become the third American in history to win the Tour de France, making it 8 years in a row for a rider from the United States to stand atop the podium in Paris. Tomorrow’s final 155 km stage from Sceaux-Anony to Paris is largely ceremonial for those contending for the general classification and it should be Floyd in that final yellow jersey. The end of the race is for the sprinters as the field makes multiple laps around Paris.
Could there be a surprise in Paris tomorrow on par with Greg LeMond’s beating Laurent Fignon back in 1989? I suppose anything is possible (especially this year), but the difference is that back then the final stage was a time trial. This time, I think that sportsmanship will rule the day and it will be champagne on the Champs Elysee for Floyd.
So here is how the GC stacks up after today’s Stage 19:
1. Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak
2. Oscar Pereiro (ESP) Caisse d’Epargne 0’59”
3. Andreas Kloeden (GER) T-Mobile 1’29”
4. Carlos Sastre (ESP) CSC 3’13”
5. Cadel Evans (AUS) Davitamon-Lotto 5’08”
6. Denis Menchov (RUS) Rabobank 7’06”
7. Cyril Dessel (FRA) AG2R 8’41”
8. Christophe Moreau (FRA) AG2R 9’37”
9. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP) Euskaltel 12’05”
10. Michael Rogers (AUS) T-Mobile 15’07”
With all commentators, including Floyd Landis, admitting that it would take a miracle for Floyd to get anywhere near the podium in Paris, it seemed this morning as if his race was over.
But Floyd Landis still had more tricks up his sleeve. Today’s Stage 17 was a 200 km event with two category 1s, a category 2, a category 3 and a beyond category climb.
Floyd attached at the 130 km mark. By the time he had climbed the find summit of the beyond category Col de Joux Plane, Floyd had a five minute lead over Carlos Sastre and was finaly able to win a stage of the tour de france over seven minutes ahead of Oscar Pereiro. With the time bonuses won by Sastre and Landis, Pereiro is holding on to the jersey by a very thin margin.
Whereas yesterday Floyd seemed to be out of the race in 11th place, today he is back in the hunt. Sastre is in second place in the GC , 12 seconds behin pereiro, with Landis in third just 30 seconds behind.
Floyd told interviewers “I have come here to win the Tour and I am not done fighting yet,”
“It does not look so bad for me at the moment and I am confident in my time trialling.
“I want to win the tour. If I had a bad day, I had to make up for it. Whoever wants to win this race has to earn it.”
So here is the general classification after Stage 17:
1. Oscar Pereiro (ESP) Caisse d’Epargne
2. Carlos Sastre (ESP) CSC at 0’12”
3. Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak at 0’30”
4. Andreas Kloeden (GER) T-Mobile at 2’29”
5. Cadel Evans (AUS) Davitamon – Lotto at 3’08”
6. Denis Menchov (RUS) Rabobank at 4’14”
7. Cyril Dessel (FRA) AG2R at 4’24”
8. Christophe Moreau (FRA) AG2R at 5’44”
9. Haimar Zubeldia (SPA) Euskaltel at 8’16”
10. Michael Rogers (AUS) T-Mobile at 12’13”
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