Tour D'France

[FishingFather]

Hoping that all the speculation that Landis is doping is erroneous. As someone who still races (look for me in the back of any pack...lol) it is very frustrating to see this and like fishin5 stated, I also think the vast majority are doing something to enhance their performance illegally.

My question is that if Landis had been a user, his earlier urine tests during the tour would have been affected. So why would it take until stage 17 for a failed drug test. Makes one kind of wonder.

[Deitz Dittrich]

FF- that is exactly what some DR. said on ESPN this morning. If someone is doping it takes a peroid of time and builds up in the system. So, it would have showed up in his earlier samples as well.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed in hopes that his name is not trashed. I think that if he comes back negative, he should sue the company that leaked the first positive test result! For defimation of character or something like that?

[Deitz Dittrich]

Watched the Landis Press conference on Espn just now. HE says he is inocent and will undergo any test they want to prove his inocence. He states that his testosterone to epitest is always that of what it is, and has nothing to do with any doping process. He states he is not in any doping process.. Not sure what that means.. I wish he would just say, "I didn't dope".. but am glad he is standing up for himself.

[nofishfisherman]

Listening to Mike Morris on KFAN on my ride to work today and he is pretty knowledgable about steroids, and doping and testosterone levels.

Some suspect Landis used testosterone to help get him back in the race after his bad day in the alps. Morris was saying that for his levels to be off and for the testosterone to have helped he would have had to been doing the treatment for weeks now. I am guessing that he would have been tested before now since these riders are constantly tested. Why wouldn't he have tested positive before?

I don't know why but my gut tells me that Landis is innocent. Maybe I just want to believe that and it skews my logic but I really think he didn't do anything wrong. Hopefully the truth comes out.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I think Landis said during the press conference that he was tested 4 times during the Tour and 9 times total this year.. I could be wrong, but I think that is what he said.

[HOF#13]

I see the results are out on his second blood sample, and that it is positive too. They said it is for a synthetic form of testosterone. Not good. He is still claiming his innocence though. I just don't trust the French and stil hope he didn't do it, but it's looking like he's going to lose the title.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I watched him on 2 different channels this a.m.... he still claims his innocence. And says he will fight it till he has no money left.

I really want to believe him!

[Corey Bechtold]

If Landis looses his title I'll just have to... to ... um ... Go Fishing! lol

Does it really matter?

Corey Bechtold

[setterguy]

I really don't give a hoot about cycling, but I say just let them all dope as much as they want. If they want to take the risk go ahead. Then its a totally fair playing field. I know he has maintained his innocence but why wouldn't he. If he admits to doping he's ruined. He has millions dollars riding on this, a lot of people would lie for that kind of $$$.

[nofishfisherman]

the tests look bad for him but some things still don't make sense to me.

He was tested several times throughout the entire tour but he only failed one test. From what I gather the way testosterone (sp?) works is you are taking it for weeks before it gets to the point where it helps you. If he were taking it for weeks then he would have tested positive before.

Riders are allowed a ratio of 4:1 I believe, Landis showed an 11:1 ratio. If it takes weeks for testosterone to build up enough to make it benefical then I doubt he would have gone from a 4:1 ratio to an 11:1 ratio as quickly as he did.

Landis should have been tested the day before the tour ended after he regained the yellow jersey if he only failed the last test then you can assume he had a ratio of 4:1 the day before the tour ended. Then the next day he was tested after he won which I guess is standard which I believe is the test he failed with an 11:1 ratio. So they are saying he went from a 4:1 to an 11:1 ration over night or at least in a few days. I just don't think thats realistic if this substance is supposed to take weeks to build up.

Seems to me if you wanted to take the drug to cheat you would have taken it to help you throughout the entire race, and if he had done that he sho uld have failed other tests.

After all the scandal around Lancs Armstrongs tests I don't trust the French testing labs at all. In the past they have showed very questionable practices when it comes to handling samples and showing evidence.

Hopefully the truth comes out someway.

Correct me if any of these statments are incorrect, I am trying to piece it together from the articles I have read but doesn't seem to be alot of facts in a lot of them so I might be a little off about their testing schedule.