View Full Version : Tour De France 2006
Well it time for the Tour, Saturday started the first full stage of the Tour de France. But with Seven-time champion Lance Armstrong is in retirement and Jan Ullrich, the 1997 champ and five-time runner-up , Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso were among nine riders withdrawn because of a doping scandal. Well isn't this just what they start every tour with Doping Scandal, just this year its not the Lance. Something never change just the faces.
Norway's Thor Hushovd, winner of Saturday's prologue, wore the overall leader's yellow jersey for the 115-mile ride that begins and ends in Strasbourg and favors sprinters. They passed in Germany for some of this leg this year too.
They same this is one of the most wide-open Tour's in many years.
As far as for the Doping; the suspected cyclists were forced out Friday after Spanish authorities confirmed to Tour organizers that they were thought to have links to an alleged doping ring with Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes at its center. He was charged in May in Spain with crimes against public health, wqasn;t he the same guy that got popped last time and the years before?
Tour stage (http://www.letour.fr/2005/presentationus/parcours.html) plan this year.
Wondering now if this will help out the American team(s)- U.S. Postal Service team, Discovery Channel team (which really only have one American).
Vale Tudo
07-14-2006, 14:20
Well it time for the Tour, Saturday started the first full stage of the Tour de France. But with Seven-time champion Lance Armstrong is in retirement and Jan Ullrich, the 1997 champ and five-time runner-up , Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso were among nine riders withdrawn because of a doping scandal. Well isn't this just what they start every tour with Doping Scandal, just this year its not the Lance. Something never change just the faces.
Norway's Thor Hushovd, winner of Saturday's prologue, wore the overall leader's yellow jersey for the 115-mile ride that begins and ends in Strasbourg and favors sprinters. They passed in Germany for some of this leg this year too.
They same this is one of the most wide-open Tour's in many years.
As far as for the Doping; the suspected cyclists were forced out Friday after Spanish authorities confirmed to Tour organizers that they were thought to have links to an alleged doping ring with Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes at its center. He was charged in May in Spain with crimes against public health, wqasn;t he the same guy that got popped last time and the years before?
Tour stage (http://www.letour.fr/2005/presentationus/parcours.html) plan this year.
Wondering now if this will help out the American team(s)- U.S. Postal Service team, Discovery Channel team (which really only have one American).
The US Postal Service team no longer exists, it become the Discovery Channel Team last year.
As of stage 13, an American is leading the Tour and is the clear favorite to win it all. His name is Floyd Landis.
This would be so great to have Floyd Landis (American) to win the Tour. After the France and their panties all in a wade over Lance. An American coming back to win after him would be pie in the face.
Yes a pun, F-them French.
Floyd Landis (http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Cycling/2006/07/20/1694244-ap.html)
I like it!
Ride like you're flying in the wind Floyd Landis...
Landis will hold the yellow jersey for the ride into Paris on Sunday.
I'll watch CBS for this one on Sunday!!
An American Kick some good Ass on the world stage.
Floyd putting the monkey stomp down on the GC was an inspiring event to watch.... American determination, drive, and hard work..... Congrats to Floyd!
http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news;_ylt=AlhYzsPm.Yo38MWvM80KN9I5nYcB?slug=ap-tourdefrance&prov=ap&type=lgns
American Landis wins Tour de France
July 23, 2006
AP - Jul 23, 11:59 am EDT
More Photos
PARIS (AP) -- Floyd Landis won the Tour de France on Sunday, keeping cycling's most prestigious title in American hands for the eighth straight year.
The 30-year-old Landis cruised to victory on the Champs-Elysees, a day after regaining the leader's yellow jersey and building an insurmountable lead in the final time trial.
Landis picked up where another American left off last year, when Lance Armstrong completed his seventh and final Tour triumph.
With the victory, Landis becomes the third American -- joining Armstrong and three-time winner Greg LeMond -- to win the Tour.
Sunday's champagne and Landis' fifth yellow jersey of the Tour were possible thanks to a once-in-a-lifetime ride Thursday in the Alps that put the Phonak team leader back in contention, one day after a disastrous ride dropped him from first to 11th, more than eight minutes back.
Oscar Pereiro of Spain finished second overall at 57 seconds back, and Germany's Andreas Kloeden was third, 1:29 behind Landis.
Sprinter Thor Hushovd won the final stage Sunday in the three-week race.
CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!! :lifter
What an insprirational story. Huzzah!
Did it all with a busted up hip too. Drive on!
Grrrrr (http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=tnBusinessNews&storyID=nL27919991&imageid=top-news-view-2006-07-27-155129-RTR1FVIS_Comp.jpg&cap=Tour%20de%20France%20winner%20Floyd%20Landis%2 0leaves%20the%20doping%20control%20caravan%20in%20 Paris%20in%20this%20July,%2023,%202006%20file%20ph oto%20after%20he%20won%20the%202006%20Tour%20de%20 France.%20Tour%20de%20France%20winner%20Landis%20h as%20given%20a%20positive%20drugs%20test%20for%20t he%20male%20sex%20hormone%20testosterone,%20his%20 Phonak%20team%20said%20on%20July%2027,%202006.%20R EUTERS/Benoit%20Tessier/Files%20(FRANCE))
PARIS, July 27 (Reuters) - Tour de France winner Floyd Landis has tested positive for the male sex hormone testosterone, the U.S. rider's Phonak team said on Thursday, dealing a savage blow to cycling's most prestigious race.
"The Phonak Cycling Team was notified yesterday by (world cycling body) the UCI of an unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone ratio in the test made on Floyd Landis after stage 17 of the Tour de France," Phonak said in a team statement.
If Landis's B sample confirms the result, the 30-year-old American is certain to be stripped of his victory, becoming the first Tour winner to be disqualified for doping.
One is that most of the riders that tested positive for high levels of Testosterone beat it on the B test. So I've heard.
Two is that I heard that he was OKed by the Race Docs to use Cortizone shots to treat his hip.
Three is that since Testosterone is not like speed drugs or blood packing I wonder what his other tests during the race looked like.
Just a few observations from a non-medical person.
Pete
x SF med
07-27-2006, 13:35
Maybe Reuters is wrong - and he's just got big cojones - that could be an explanation.
Bill Harsey
07-27-2006, 18:06
This single test is a long ways from proving Landis did some doping but the accusation has been made and that's good enough for a lot of people around the world, especially in "some" countries to declare him guilty and take away his win.
Roguish Lawyer
07-27-2006, 18:08
Maybe Reuters is wrong - and he's just got big cojones - that could be an explanation.
LOL, or maybe he has three or four of them . . .
This single test is a long ways from proving Landis did some doping but the accusation has been made and that's good enough for a lot of people around the world, especially in "some" countries to declare him guilty and take away his win.
Damn Skippy..... It's becoming Par for the course with Americans winning the Tour DAY France...
dmgedgoods
07-28-2006, 09:20
#
Team Sergeant
07-28-2006, 13:10
Maybe Reuters is wrong - and he's just got big cojones - that could be an explanation.
Along that same line of thinking....
I was wondering if they were using the French Male Testosterone scale instead of the American Male Testosterone scale and that's why there such a seemingly vast difference in the Testosterone measurements.
I was wondering if they were using the French Male Testosterone scale instead of the American Male Testosterone scale...i'm not a medic, but isn't Phrench Testosterone the same thing as Estrogen...???
x SF med
07-28-2006, 14:04
i'm not a medic, but isn't Phrench Testosterone the same thing as Estrogen...???
I believe Phrench estrogen is 100x more powerful than Phrench testosterone - ever seen a Phrench female? Even the low testosterone Phrench males can react in the presence of that much female "go-juice".
Landis' B Sample Tested Positive
Story: http://edition.cnn.com/2006/SPORT/08/05/cycling.landis.ap/
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PARIS, France (AP) -- America's Floyd Landis was fired by his team and the Tour de France no longer considered him its champion Saturday after his second doping sample tested positive for higher-than-allowed levels of testosterone.
The head of France's anti-doping commission said the samples contained synthetic testosterone, indicating that it came from an outside source.
The second or "B" sample, "confirmed the result of an adverse analytical finding" in last week's "A" sample, the International Cycling Union said.
Pierre Bordry, who heads the French anti-doping council, said the lab that found higher-than-allowable levels of the hormone in both samples also discovered synthetic testosterone.
"I have received a text message from Chatenay-Malabry lab that indicates the 'B' sample of Floyd Landis' urine confirms testosterone was taken in an exogenous way," Bordry told The Associated Press.
Landis had claimed the testosterone was "natural and produced by my own organism."
The Swiss-based team Phonak immediately severed ties with Landis and the UCI said it would ask USA Cycling to open disciplinary proceedings against him.
"Landis will be dismissed without notice for violating the teams internal Code of Ethics," Phonak said in a statement. "Landis will continue to have legal options to contest the findings. However, this will be his personal affair, and the Phonak team will no longer be involved in that."
Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said Landis no longer was considered champion, but the decision to strip him of his title rests with the UCI.
"It goes without saying that for us Floyd Landis is no longer the winner of the 2006 Tour de France," Prudhomme told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
"Our determination is even stronger now to fight against doping and to defend this magnificent sport."
Prudhomme said runner-up Oscar Pereiro of Spain would be the likely new winner.
"We can't imagine a different outcome," Prudhomme said.
Pereiro had no doubt that he was now the winner.
"After hearing the result of the counteranalysis, I feel the winner of the Tour," Pereiro said on Saturday.
He said he regretted not being able to celebrate a win properly, wearing the champion's yellow jersey in Paris and having his photograph taken on the podium.
"I would have liked to have lived that day, it would have been the best day of my life, as a sportsman," Pereiro said.
He added that he felt badly for Landis.
"I consider him my friend," he said. "It surprised me and hurt me to hear what had happened to him.
" I trust Floyd, but the analysis shows he may have broken a rule. He failed a doping test. If you fail the norms set, then you have to be withdrawn."
If stripped of the title, Landis would become the first winner in the 103-year history of cycling's premier race to lose his Tour crown over doping allegations.
UCI lawyer Philippe Verbiest said Landis would officially remain Tour champion pending the American disciplinary process.
"Until he is found guilty or admits guilt, he will keep the yellow jersey," he said. "This is normal. You are not sanctioned before you are found guilty."
If found guilty, Landis also faces a two-year ban from the sport.
Despite the second positive test, Landis maintained his innocence.
"I have never taken any banned substance, including testosterone," he said in a statement. "I was the strongest man at the Tour de France, and that is why I am the champion.
"I will fight these charges with the same determination and intensity that I bring to my training and racing. It is now my goal to clear my name and restore what I worked so hard to achieve."
Landis' urine sample was analyzed at the Chatenay-Malabry lab outside Paris.
The results of the second test come nearly two weeks after he stood atop the winner's podium on the Champs-Elysees in the champion's yellow jersey.
Landis' positive tests set off what could now be months of appeals and arguments by the American, who says the positive finding was due to naturally high testosterone levels. He has repeatedly declared his innocence.
"It's incredibly disappointing," three-time Tour winner Greg LeMond said by phone from the starting line at the Pan Mass Challenge in Sturbridge, Mass. "I don't think he has much chance at all to try to prove his innocence."
The tests were conducted on urine samples drawn July 20 after Landis' Stage 17 victory during a grueling Alpine leg, when he regained nearly eight minutes against then-leader Pereiro -- and went on to win the three-week race.
The case is expected to go to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency; the process could take months, possibly with appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
"It doesn't end here," said Landis' Spanish lawyer, Jose Maria Buxeda. "What matters is the concept. A prohibited substance has been found in the samples, but no immediate sanction comes into effect yet. The rider will defend himself."
Landis, a 30-year-old former mountain biker, says he was tested eight other times during the three-week tour and those results came back negative.
Landis' spokesman Michael Henson confirmed this week that the rider had tested positive for a testosterone-epitestosterone ratio of 11:1 -- well above the 4:1 limit.
Landis has hired high-profile American lawyer Howard Jacobs, who has represented several athletes in doping cases.
Jacobs plans to go after the UCI for allegedly leaking information regarding the sample testing.
Earlier this week, a New York Times report cited a source from the UCI saying that a second analysis of Landis' "A" sample by carbon isotope ratio testing had detected synthetic testosterone -- meaning it was ingested.
Since the Phonak team was informed of the positive test on July 27, Landis and his defense team have offered varying explanations for the high testosterone reading -- including cortisone shots taken for pain in Landis' degenerating hip; drinking beer and whiskey the night before; thyroid medication; and his natural metabolism.
Another theory -- dehydration -- was rebuffed by anti-doping experts.
"When I heard it was synthetic hormone, it is almost impossible to be caused by natural events. It's kind of a downer," said LeMond, the first American to win the Tour. "I feel for Floyd's family. I hope Floyd will come clean on it and help the sport. We need to figure out how to clean the sport up, and we need the help of Floyd."
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