Ullrich and co. - can somebody explain this doping scandal to me?

[tonym]

The story so far.....

But even if the B sample confirms the A result, Landis is not necessarily guilty of taking an illegal performance enhancing drug to boost his testosterone. Some riders can prove that they have an elevated Testosterone/Epitestosterone (T:E) level, if they undergo an endocrine test performed by a credible doctor. Landis said he will use Spanish doctor Luis Hernández, who has helped other riders prove a high T:E count. "In hundreds of cases, no one's ever lost one," Landis told SI.

[brownie]

Floyd Landis is holding a news confence in Madrid right now! He is proclaiming his innocence...

Floyd Landis news conference

[clifford_thornton]

No, I'm with you Tony on the amateurs - a couple of training buddies were ex-domestiques and they were insane riders. Probably still are. But my point was, as you said, that doping is all through cycling, and the demands placed on the human body to complete those races have always required pharmaceutical assistance, among other things. Sobeit. If Landis loses the title, can you trust #2 not to be doped as well? Doubtful.

Still, I had high hopes for Landis making the podium this year, well before the race begun. Scandal or no, he was strong and things fell into place for him. That's not a result of doping, and never is.

[Chalupa]

Not looking too good for Floyd.....

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/news/story?id=2535787

Monday, July 31, 2006

Report: Synthetic testosterone found in Landis sample

Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Lab tests show that some of the testosterone in Floyd Landis' urine sample taken at the Tour de France was synthetic and not naturally produced by his body as he had claimed, according to a newspaper report.

The French antidoping lab testing the American cyclist's samples detected that some of the hormone came from an external source, The New York Times reported on its Web site Monday night, citing a person at the International Cycling Union with knowledge of the result.

The result undermines the defense that Landis has stood behind since the news last week that he tested positive for an elevated ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone following his stirring comeback in Stage 17 of the Tour de France.

Landis won that Alpine stage and went on to claim the Tour title.

[brownie]

Landis flunked the test. He has been fired from his team right after the announcement.

From AP:

LANDIS BACKUP TEST ALSO POSITIVE; TOUR DE FRANCE TITLE IN JEOPARDY

By JEROME PUGMIRE, AP Sports Writer

August 5, 2006

PARIS (AP) -- 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.

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."

Associated Press Writers Jamey Keaten, Jean-Luc Courthial in Paris, Erica Bulman in Geneva and Sports Writer Vinay Cherwoo in New York contributed to this report.

[Ed S]

Very disappointing.

[clifford_thornton]

This is still bullshit. They should have tested #2 also!

[Brad]

Guy's just a cheater. This is a sport that needs to be really cleaned up or they need to make the Tour less demanding.

[Claude]

This is still bullshit. They should have tested #2 also!

Given that after every stage, the winner of the stage, the yellow jersey and two randomnly selected riders are tested, Pereiro must have been tested at least 4 times during the last days of the Tour.

I'm convinced that most riders are doped, but that it is so perfectly organized that it is not being detected. Something must have gone terribly wrong in Landis' treatment the evening before he made his spectacular comeback. BTW, both him and Pereiro were tested that day.

http://www.letour.fr/2006/TDF/LIVE/us/1700/index.html

[Aggie87]

(Personally, my gut tells me Landis is still guilty of doping)

Landis lab concedes error

The Chatenay-Malabry lab that administered Floyd Landis' positive test at the Tour de France admitted to an "administrative error," which the rider has made central to his own defence.

An unnamed source confirmed Landis' claims that the lab had given the wrong number in Landis' positive B sample, French newspaper Le Monde reported Wednesday.

"The error, of an administrative nature, does not mean the positive B sample was not that of the American," Le Monde said. "But it is being used today by his lawyers ... to contest his positive doping results."

Landis won the Tour de France in stunning fashion after an astonishing come-back on the final mountain stage of the 2006 Tour, but was later tested positive for excessive testosterone levels during the now infamous ride.

Landis has contested his innocence since the positive was revealed, and last month posted his legal defence in a 300-page report online.

In part of that report the American clamed that the French lab wrote sample numbers on test forms that did not correspond with Landis' number, then covered over the number with correction fluid and added his own.

The Le Monde story, which comes one day after French officials confirmed they were investigating a hacking into the Chatenay lab's computer systems, said that the lab wrote the number 994,474 onto the doping form, while Landis's number was 995,474.

"Even the best people make mistakes," Landis reiterated to French television on Sunday. "I can't say that the lab is always a bad lab, but I can say that in this case it made some mistakes ... I did not take testosterone."

Race organisers have renounced Landis as the winner of this year's Tour, though they are unable to name second-place finisher Oscar Pereiro the official victor until Landis faces an arbitration hearing in the United States.

If convicted of doping, Landis would lose the title and could face a two-year ban.

Spain's Pereiro, meanwhile, said he would boycott next year's Tour de France if a winner was not officially named.

"I will not go to the Tour de France if the organization leaves the first place vacant," he said in a press conference in Marín on Tuesday. "In that case, I will take part in the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España."

[Claude]

The same day this is being reported:

Fake emails from Châtenay-Malabry lab regarding Landis

By Hedwig Kröner

French police are currently investigating a possible violation of the central e-mail server of the Châtenay-Malabry anti-doping laboratory (LNDD) close to Paris. On Tuesday, November 7, an official complaint has been filed by the president of the French anti-doping agency, Pierre Bordry.

Several e-mails, disguised as coming form the LNDD, were sent to sports institutions UCI, IOC, WADA amongst other recipients, questioning the responsibility of the laboratory with regards to the Floyd Landis doping case during the Tour de France. Attached to these e-mails were excerpts of internal documents concerning rectifications that had been made during previous testing process, but taken out of context. However, the messages were written in poor French with apparently typical English-speaking errors, and lacked the signature of its director, Jacques de Ceaurritz. Moreover, the official logo of the laboratory had been badly re-created, including an error in the spelling of 'Châtenay-Malabry'.

"I received an e-mail signed by a certain Norman Crépin," Christine Ayotte, director of the WADA-accredited anti-doping laboratory in Montreal, Canada, told L'Equipe. "The message said that the French lab was a specialist in repetitive errors in his anti-doping analysis. ... The form was suspect; e-mails coming from Châtenay-Malabry not signed by Jacques De Ceaurritz... I was circumspect."

A staff member of the laboratory corresponds to the surname 'Crépin', but he would have nothing to do with this affair. According to L'Equipe, a person with close ties to Floyd Landis has been identified as the author of the e-mails by French investigators.

"Before, these kind of strategies occurred within North America," said Ayotte, who deplored a number of manoeuvres trying to destabilize WADA-accredited anti-doping laboratories. "Now, personal attacks of this kind increase. With the Armstrong affair, the Landis file, the LNDD has had its share. It's a shame."

Police investigations meanwhile continue, as the information on the lab server is regarded as highly sensitive, and includes the alleged doping files of seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, as well as his 2006 successor, Floyd Landis. The LNDD has had their credibility questioned in the past with problems of poor security, with testing results of both Landis and Armstrong were leaked.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=new...ov06/nov14news2

[Claude]

Now the Tour runner-up is being accused:

Le Monde: Doping test shows Pereiro used salbutamol at Tour de France

The Associated Press

Thursday, January 18, 2007

PARIS

Tour de France runner-up Oscar Pereiro twice tested positive for an asthma drug during the race, French daily Le Monde reported Thursday.

The newspaper said the International Cycling Union granted the Spanish rider a certificate to use salbutamol for medical reasons and has decided not to pursue disciplinary action against him.

But France's anti-doping agency does not believe that the waiver was medically justified, according to Le Monde. It said the agency will examine his case next Thursday and open disciplinary proceedings if Pereiro has not provided medical justifications by then.

UCI president Pat McQuaid said he was not aware of Le Monde's claims and therefore would not comment on the specific case of Pereiro.

"I haven't heard anything about this," he said.

But McQuaid said "there always have been differences of opinion" between the UCI and the French agency on the medical waivers. UCI waivers follow WADA guidelines, "and the French agency has a different view of this."

Six other cases of "doubtful" medical waivers from riders who also tested positive at the Tour will also be examined by the French agency, Le Monde said.

Pereiro could be declared the winner of the 2006 race if Floyd Landis is stripped of his title.

A doping test showed the American had elevated ratios of testosterone to epitestosterone. If Landis' appeal fails, he could be banned from cycling for two years.

Andreas Kloden of Germany finished third at the Tour.

Le Monde said Pereiro, riding for the Caisse d'Epargne team, tested positive on July 17 and July 19 as the race veered through the Alps.

It said the French anti-doping agency has sent him three requests since August for medical information to show that he needed salbutamol and that the UCI waiver was not hiding an attempt to cheat. As of Thursday, the agency had not received a response, the newspaper said.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/18/...eiro-Doping.php

[RDK]

The L.A. Times recently ran a couple of long articles about Landis and the anti-doping police in general. Fascinating reading...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/na...-home-headlines

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-landis...4539,full.story

[Claude]

Report: Landis follow-up tests also positive

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/6728854

PARIS (AP) - Follow-up tests on samples given by Tour de France champion Floyd Landis have found traces of synthetic testosterone, French sports newspaper L'Equipe reported Monday.

The paper said on its Web site the tests on seven samples clearly showed traces of the banned substance. Initial tests on the samples had not produced positive results, it added.

Landis gave the samples while on his way to winning the 2006 Tour, it said.

The tests were conducted at France's national anti-doping laboratory of Chatenay-Malabry outside Paris. L'Equipe said the lab used a technique that can distinguish synthetic testosterone, a hormone that also occurs naturally in the body. The lab is the same one that revealed Landis' positive test after he won the 17th stage of last year's Tour.

The president of the French anti-doping agency, Pierre Bordry, said when contacted by The Associated Press that the tests were concluded this weekend but that he did not know the result because they were sent directly to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, or USADA, which requested the tests.

They were on Landis' "B" urine samples.

Landis spokesman Michael Henson said Monday the head of the French lab prevented the cyclist's expert, Paul Smith, from entering the lab Sunday to witness the testing.

"Such behavior constitutes a clear and direct infringement of Landis' rights while casting severe doubt on the integrity of an already dubious process," Henson said in a statement.

Bordry confirmed the incident had taken place but said it stemmed from a prior agreement stipulating that Landis' expert would attend the test with two experts from the USADA.

Smith was excluded Sunday because the USADA experts failed to show up, Bordry said.

One of Landis' samples, taken after the 17th stage, tested positive for a high testosterone to epitestosterone ratio. Landis had insisted that the follow-up tests weren't necessary because the other primary "A" samples were negative for banned substances.

He also wanted the tests conducted at the UCLA lab, which handles much of USADA's testing, but the machines it uses for the tests are under repair.

Landis has an arbitration hearing scheduled for May 14 in California, at which he is expected to question the practices at the French lab.

If doping allegations against the 31-year-old American are upheld, he faces a two-year ban from competition. He also would be the first rider in the 104-year history of the Tour to be stripped of the title. He already has agreed not to compete in this year's event while the case is pending.

[Chalupa]

Greg LeMond accused his fellow Tour de France champ's camp of trying to blackmail him.

Associated Press

MALIBU, Calif. - The Floyd Landis hearing took a chaotic twist yesterday when fellow American Tour de France champion Greg LeMond revealed he had been sexually abused as a child and claimed the Landis camp tried to use it as blackmail to keep LeMond from testifying.

It was a shock, not only because of the content of the three-time Tour de France winner's much-awaited appearance, but also because of the contrast between his testimony and three days of scientific nitpicking. LeMond said he used the story of his being sexually abused when he was 6 as an example of how it's good to get things out in the open. "It nearly destroyed me by keeping the secret," LeMond said.

He said he told Landis that very few people knew that about him, then accused someone in the Landis camp of using that information Wednesday night to intimidate him from appearing as a witness.

LeMond described receiving a call that he said he later traced to the cell phone of Landis' manager, Will Geoghegan. "He said, 'I'll be there tomorrow and we can talk about how we used to' perform a sexual act," LeMond said. "I thought this was intimidation to keep me from coming here."

[Claude]

Here's a bit longer account of that incident:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/18/sports/o...s/18landis.html

[Chalupa]

Riis admits taking EPO, willing to give back yellow jersey

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/news...e=ESPNHeadlines

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- Former Danish cyclist Bjarne Riis admitted Friday he used performance-enhancing drugs during his 1996 Tour de France victory.

"I have taken doping. I have taken EPO," Riis said during a televised news conference. "I have made errors and I would like to apologize."

Riis said he also used cortisone and human growth hormone and that he didn't suffer any side effects from EPO, a blood-boosting hormone.

"The only effect I had was that I rode faster," he said.

Riis said he used the substances from 1993 to 1998, including during his Tour victory. Riis said he no longer considers himself a worthy winner of the Tour and indicated he would be willing to give back the title.

Team CSC

Bjarne Riis, left, confers with Jens Voigt during the 2005 Tour de France. Riis has admitted doping during his 1996 Tour victory.

"My jersey is at home in a cardboard box," said Riis, now manager of the CSC team. "They are welcome to come and get it. I have my memories for myself."

There was no immediate comment from the UCI, the sport's governing body, which would determine whether a rider could be stripped of a Tour title.

[T.D.]

Gee, "Mr. 60%"...who'd a thunk it?

The dominos are starting to fall pretty quickly. Will they ever reach LANCE?

[porcy62]

When I think how the press and all the circus, cyclists included, crucified Pantani, such a hypocrit bunch of moroons.

BTW, Too easy to admit doping after retirement or at the end of a career.

Edited May 25, 2007 by porcy62

[clifford_thornton]

The whole doping thing should be dropped. Fuck it.

[brownie]

So they come in one after the other to admit they did use!

It's not a hushhush thing anymore

Wonder when Lance Armstrong's turn will come...

[Chalupa]

The whole doping thing should be dropped. Fuck it.

Not sure I follow... are you saying that we should drop this thread??

[brownie]

Time now for Ullrich to speak up...

From AFP:

CYCLING: I INJECTED ULLRICH WITH EPO, SAYS SOIGNEUR

by Jerome Rasetti

Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich was injected with the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin), according to a soigneur who worked with the retired German cyclist's Telekom team.

Jef d'Hont, the former Telekom soigneur whose recent published memoirs have led to a string of stunning confessions from former team riders, said in an interview to appear in Sunday's Bild newspaper that he injected Ullrich with EPO.

"I injected him once with EPO in the arm," said D'Hont.

"It lasted around 10 seconds. It was as if I was injecting some insulin into someone who was ill."

It is the first time that D'Hont has revealed who in the Telekom team he administered drugs to.

Ullrich has been under suspicion of doping since being implicated, along with dozens of other riders, in the Spanish doping investigation dubbed 'Operation Puerto' which has engulfed the sport since May 2006.

The 33-year-old German has always denied being involved in the affair, which was uncovered by police in Spain and led to the arrest of Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes after doping products and bags of blood were found on his premises.

After months of denials Italy's Ivan Basso, the Tour of Italy champion, has recently admitted he worked with Fuentes.

The 31-year-old stopped short of saying he actually doped, but is facing a 21-month ban from the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI).

Since being suspended from last year's Tour de France Ullrich has retired from the sport, although existing suspicion has heightened in the wake of some stunning confessions from Ullrich's former team-mates this week.

Denmark's Bjarne Riis, the 1996 Tour de France winner, admitted on Friday he had used EPO while at Telekom, who also won the race in 1997 thanks to Ullrich.

Several of Riis's former Telekom teammates, including top sprinter Erik Zabel of Germany, Rolf Aldag, Bert Dietz, Christian Henn and Udo Boelts, have also admitting using the drug.

The drama provided by the series of stunning confessions took another twist Saturday when a doctor employed by several sports federations in Germany admitted supplying drugs to amateur cyclists between 1980 and 1990.

Georg Huber, a top physician at the University of Fribourg clinic, was immediately suspended from his post by the German cycling federation (BDR) after admitting to the offences.

Huber said he had given the banned male sex hormone testosterone to amateur riders during 1980-1990, according to a statement by the University clinic of Fribourg - considered Germany's top sports medicine facility.

The bombshells dropped this week by Zabel and Riis - two of the German outfits former high profile stars - are being seen as a positive development as cycling fights to rebuild its image.

International Cycling Union (UCI) president Pat McQuaid said Saturday: "The confessions from Germany and Denmark show that people are now ready to speak out. This is extremely positive.

"The law of silence no longer applies - each person must now assume the full consequences of their actions."

More than eight years on, Riis and the other repentants cannot now be sanctioned, although the 43-year-old Dane is ready to hand back his yellow jersey from his 1996 victory.

The UCI and Tour de France officials feel it would be a symbolic gesture that would help put the sport on a more sound footing.

It now remains to be seen if the latest claims against Ullrich, one of the Tour de France's main protagonists over the past decade, lead to a similar scenario.

D'Hont claimed that Ullrich was only following other riders in taking EPO, and he urged the German to follow his former team-mates in confessing.

"He did the same as all the others. It would be good for him to speak out and get things out into the open, it would liberate him," added D'Hont, who nonetheless could not hide his admiration for the 2000 Olympic champion who finished a runner-up five time on the Tour.

"If everyone was clean, Ullrich would have won the Tour de France at least 10 times."

[clifford_thornton]

The whole doping thing should be dropped. Fuck it.

Not sure I follow... are you saying that we should drop this thread??

No.

[T.D.]

Riis evicted from Danish sports hall of fame