Cyclist Floyd Landis fails drugs test

Just heard that that Floyd Landis has just been busted by the doping control from the Tour de France. Wouldn`t have happened to Lance Armstrong, he had no gonads, did he.

well i dont think he's been totally busted yet has he? i think they think it is an irregularity?

speaking of armstrong, some bellend at uni used to take up a seat in a booth in the library during study time with a picture of lance he would pin up on the wall for "inspiration". even when someone stole it when he had gone to lunch he came back with another and pinned that up. does lance have his own magazine...?

Well he did beat testicular, lung and brain cancer and then went on to win the Tour de France 7 times (in a row).

I'd love to hear all about the incredible things you've done with your life. They must be truly fantastic if you don't find that inspiring. (edited due to personal attack) Would it be weird if I hung a poster of you on my wall?

I find the fact that he beat cancer a very inspiring story. The fact that he won the Tour de France 7 times in a row is an achievement but after all that has happened in the world of cycling I seriously doubt that his victories were legit.

Landis will have his "B" sample of blood tested to verify the results from the "A" sample. Given his behaviour of the last few days (not showing up for 2 races) I'd say that he's guilty as charged. I also believe that Lance was a user. His cancer treatment proved to be a convenient way of covering up his drug usage.

Watching Lance is like watching some megalomaniac who has no respect for the sport. Phonak used USPS/Discovery's playbook and focused solely on the TdF. It seems to be an American obsession to win the TdF at the expense of the other great races. However, it may well be driven by advertising and sponsorship dollars.

Whatever the outcome of Landis' tests, cyclists will continue to use drugs, the potential rewards are simply too great.

Nice to see what all us football fans have been saying about the cyclists turned out right

You must be joking. Have added this to my list of "Most Ridiculous Posts on TT... EVER"

PS- Sea-king, I just don't see the humour in testicular cancer. As a male, you most definitely shouldn't find it funny- can happen to any of you boys, you know.

Actually Jenny. Jance Armstrong consistently said that the cancer supressing drugs were what caused the questionable test results. Truth or a convenient cover-up?

Latest:: He was caught with a testerone plaster on his testicles, WTF. Sounds a bit pervy to me. I think cancer of the testicles a load of bollocks really.
P.S. Holding some overpaid drug using sportsman as an icon sounds a bit brainless to me . P.P.S. My father died of cancer and I was with him at the very end but I can still see the funny side to life so lighten up.

I think drugs should be an acceptable part of sports.

Mr Armstrong was the most drug-tested athlete in the world. He came up negative everytime. A French magazine claimed he had a positive test once but late withdrew the claim and apologised as it came from some bloke that was a paid a lot of money by the magazine to "tell his story" (I do not know whether they received their money back from him)

The reason he was so good in the alps was that within days of having an operation on his testicles, he wanted to get back in the saddle. He was told he could go on his indoor trainer but only standing up (which he proceeded to do for a few months). Personally, I find his story quite amazing and inspirational but a lot of people see him on top of a pedestal so just want to knock him off it (goodness knows why)

This whole thing is pretty devastating.

Do you think Floyd cheated?

Weigh in with any heavy-handed speculation.

with the limited information available to me, I can confidently say with 100% accuracy that I dont really care if he cheated.

Austin Murphy was pretty close to him as a wrtier covering the tour:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writ...eact/index.html

His mother says he didn't do it:

there are already 3 threads where this is being discussed, do we really need a fourth?

He claims it was due to a drug he was taking for his thyroid problem...

Im not commenting either way here but it does seem strange how many sportsmen have 'health problems' that help them become stronger and healthier...

like many who have been caught claim they took it for a 'headache' not knowing that there was an illegal chemical within the tablet. If, in order to become a world class sportsman, you have to apparantly have constant migranes among with many other health problems, then I dont think its worth it

I searched for Floyd and got nothing. Sorry.

Anyway,

Under World Anti-Doping Agency regulations, a ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone greater than 4:1 is considered a positive result and subject to investigation. The threshold was recently lowered from 6:1. The most likely natural ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone in humans is 1:1.

@ space - I have that gif thingy as well, and have been saving it for an occasion such as this

@ tomasino - Search results for "Landis"

I thought that even though I don´t really feel that way but very close to it, it´d be a great time to post it.
Though I expect someone to post it on some of my posts to even out the karma thingy
take care,
space

Totally 100% agree. Even I'd go and watch the Tour de France if all the riders took LSD. Would make for some wicked entertainment. Maybe they could do a stage on E, and another on grass (that'll be the one where the winner is the only one that doesn't say, "Mountain. Fuck it! Not today. Anybody got a pizza?"). One stage on speed... NNNAAAARRRRRRRRR!!!

Who really cares.. it seems that every guy in this sport is on drugs. That makes it a level playing field, and he was still the best drugged up cyclist 7 times it seems..

@ Sin - but which drug do you give to the spectators? The same? One with an opposite effect?

So, despite being the most tested athlete in the world and not a sniff was ever found, you feel he was using drugs.

Oh well, I am sure there is a blog somewhere that substantiates your opinion.

I still think that anyone that went through what he did, even if they dont achieve anything afterwards, is to be admired or at least respected. (IMHO)

I'm sure there'll be a lot of blogs that substatiate his opinion. Most people think that he doped the entire time. Just because they never found anything doesn't necessarily mean he wasn't using. The development of the drugs are far more advanced than the are the development of the tests..

Do they do drug testing in team sports like football or just in sports for individuals (tennis, olympics, cycling)?

Ah! I see you have been reading my books, young man!

@MOIL V: I hear your argument all the time, but I am not so sure that it is true. Have you ever read something that substantiates that claim? Maybe Eurovol would no better, as I am in med and he is in Chemistry. But I just am not sure this is a valid argument, or just a BS argument for those who wish to discredit him. I am willing to believe it is possible, but I have never heard that to be the case.

Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit:

Yep,

I'm so P***d off. When I heard about a +ve test I was thinking just don't let it be Landis - Doh!

I now withdraw all my earlier comments and now admit that compared with the UCI; FIFA's problems are small. UCI's efforts have been meaningless and it's difficult to see where they can go from here.

Helter Skelter if ever I'm in your neck of the woods we can watch a game of footy togther beer's on me.
You'll have to supply your own drugs though.

Yup, irregular alright, someone who cycles for a living having any testosterone!!

Maybe I'm retarted today but I don't understand that quote DrivinWest.


Nope, don't have evidence. How could I? Surely no one would admit to having proof that their drug development will evade testing positive..

I don't want to believe that Lance doped since it's such a remarkable story, but it's difficult not to. Eventually the Tour de France is going to have to become more lenient on the doping front - people are getting fed up with all the talk about it and no longer watching. I used to watch it every year, or at least have it on in the background, but since Jan Ulrich was disqualified I decided not to. It was his big chance and he blew it.

Does anyone have any idea what kind of difference doping while training makes towards your performance? I mean, surely these guys are good regardless, right? Don't most of them stop doping before the racing begins so as not to test positively?

Ok, I get it now.. I wasn't sure if you were supporting what I said or not since you mentioned lack of evidence, which I thought pertained to the lack of evidence available to prove that Lance was doping, but I realize now that you're calling my statement ignorant and erroneous, which isn't really that fair considering the way I worded it. Obviously by using "necessarily" I wasn't so sure myself.

Clearly it is conjecture that he was using, apart from that time they found a sample of his blood that proved he'd doped.. but, oh yeah, he was "set up."

Someday I'll learn to keep my opinions to myself.

Nah, don't do that, what would the pedantic bastards do then with no-one to anally criticise

Got a link to that, I would be interested in reading it, ta

Sure. Even gave you a usa today article with arguments against it.

Here's another one that's somewhat non-partial.

Message Therapist's allegations

A lot more allegations

Maybe this kit would have had more luck finding what fucking drugs Armstrong was on than the piece of shit tests they actually had at the time. If ever there was a cyclist powered by BALCO, it was that bloke!!

I didn't say anything, I just quote Carl Sagan. Further, that quote of his doesn't say you, the arguer, are ignorant, it says it is an argument that is intended to appeal to ignorance.

Example: There is no evidence that leprechauns exists, but saying that they might due to no evidence that they do not exist is an argument that appeals to ignorance.

With the lack of any evidence to the contrary, the default position needs to follow the evidence that does exist.

Surely there's a clever astronomer or astronaut out there who equates passive aggressiveness with cowardliness..

Not a personal attack, trust me.

Please keep the thread cleaner than the Tour de France (or any other professional cycling race). Thank you from your moderation team.

Nah, just a typical smart ass comment that can as per usual, easily be mistaken for one.

How was the thread not clean, frau moderation police woman??

My mistake, I thought I was posting on Toytown! Apologies across the board.

not in cycling that I can think of off the top of my head, but the Balco case in athletics, where they designed the steroids specially to avoid detection

Carl Sagan was lucky to work in the sciences, where everything was black or white, true or false, or existing or not existing. Establishing fact is boring, and practically irrelevant in the real world. I would like to see how good Sagan would be at being a defense lawyer or politician for example. I would like to see how well he moves from mere fact to action, consensus, justice, emotional soundness, and understanding.


I think you misinterpreted this statement:


Surely as far as the leprechaun goes, the appeal to ignorance is trying to claim that leprechauns definitivly dont exist simply because there is no evidence they dont exist.

If as you say, the appeal to ignorance was trying to claim leprechauns MIGHT exist because no evidence exists that they dont, then the phrase above would read "absense of evidence IS evidence of absence" which is clearly absurd. As it is, claiming leprechauns MAY exist despite there being no evidence is a sound argument.

And with Armstrong, since he came back from cancer, he has the sympathy vote, where everyone tries harder to block out the possibility that he may have been a drug cheat. Tell ye something, if it had been Jan Ullrich winning all those years in a row, there would have been a lot more questions asked..

Plenty of accusations BUT not a single positive drug test, not one, nothing, zip, zilch etc etc etc. Oh well, maybe someone will find something one day but until they do he is in the clear!

My head hurts

This warrants its own thread but as I recall you and IPJ already had one a while back?