Tour de France winner tests positive

[Danny]

WOW! The winner of the Tour de France (Floyd Landis) has tested positive to testosterone, the pre race favourites were kicked out before the tour even began........ surely now even in the eyes of the average punter, cycling is a sport riddled with drugs. Does the public want to see drugged up athletes competing, or a genuine race? Unfortunately the latter seems impossible to achieve.

Tour champ fails drugs test
From Peter Capella in Zurich, Switzerland
July 28, 2006

AMERICA'S Floyd Landis sent the Tour de France spiralling into despair overnight when his team announced the 2006 champion had failed a dope test.

Landis ... may kiss his title goodbye. Pic: Associated Press
Profile: Teen rebel who almost quit

The 30-year-old tested positive for testosterone, his Phonak team reported, but Landis was quick to issue a denial this morning.

"No, c'mon man," Landis told Sports Illustrated reporter Austin Murphy who asked the cyclist: "Did you do it?"

Landis, quoted on the US-based magazine's website SI.com, said he "can't be hopeful" that the B sample would clear him. If that also comes back positive, he could be sacked by his team and also stripped of the Tour de France title, something that has never happened in the race's 103-year history

"I'm a realist," he said.

However, he said he was also prepared to fight to clear his name and would retain Spanish doctor Luis Hernandez, who has helped other cyclists who tested positive for elevated testosterone, which occurs naturally in the body.

"In hundreds of cases, no one's ever lost one," Landis said, adding he knew many would find his denial hollow.

"I wouldn't hold it against somebody if they don't believe me," he said.

Landis is the third American to win the race after Lance Armstrong and Greg LeMond, who won seven and three respectively.

Lemond said today he was stunned by the news.

"I'm devastated and extremely disappointed," he said.

"I can't imagine the disappointment for Floyd and his family. I really did believe Floyd was clean.

"The problem is the sport is corrupt and it corrupts everybody. I still believe it was one of the cleanest Tours ever. But is it 100 per cent clean? No.

"You will always find riders who transgress the laws. I really did believe Floyd was not among them, that he was clean. Hopefully, he will be able to step up and tell the truth."

Phonak manager John Lelangue said overnight he still has faith in Landis but is obliged to apply the team's ethics code.

"We are surprised by the result but we will apply the procedure of the ethics code that we have signed," he said before confirming Landis would be sacked if all other tests come back positive.

"If the result from the B sample confirms the first result, there will be a dismissal."

The Swiss-based team said in a statement that it was notified by the International Cycling Union (UCI) on Wednesday of "an unusual level of testosterone-epitestosteron ratio in the test made on Floyd Landis after stage 17 of the Tour de France".

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That was the stage that saw Landis claim victory after a staggering 130km solo breakaway – a day after he had collapsed on the 16th stage and had tumbled down to 11th place overall, 8min 08sec behind Spain's Oscar Pereiro.

The Spaniard, who finished second overall, will be promoted to champion if Landis is kicked out.

"I would prefer to keep second place and that the first dope test wasn't confirmed," the Caisse d'Epargne-Iles Baleares team rider said.

Tour de France organisers, stunned by the news, also issued a statement, reading: "If the B sample test confirms the first result, anger and sadness will dominate the feelings of all of those who had been filled with enthusiasm for the Tour de France of 2006."

The news came as mystery surrounded the whereabouts of the American, who withdrew from two races in the Netherlands and Denmark the day after UCI announced a Tour rider had failed a doping test. He is thought to be somewhere in the US.

Dutch news agency ANP reported that Landis pulled out of a race in Chaam on Wednesday on medical advice, but his reason for not appearing was not confirmed by race organisers.

Landis also pulled out of the Grand Prix Jyske Bank race overnight, the Danish organisers said in a statement.

Landis did win the Stiphout criterium in the Netherlands on Tuesday night.

This year's Tour was rocked by a drugs scandal on the eve of the race which saw nine riders, including pre-race favourites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso, barred after they were implicated in a Spanish blood-doping ring.

It was the latest in a series of high-profile drugs controversies to tarnish cycling over the past decade, with the Tour de France being particularly hard hit.

The 1988 Tour de France champion Pedro Delgado tested positive but was never punished because the substance, probenecide, found in his urine was not prohibited at the time although it was on the Olympic list of banned substances.

Apart from Ullrich, the 1997 champion currently under suspicion, 1998 winner Marco Pantani from Italy was thrown out of the 1999 Tour of Italy the day before the final stage because of a high hematrocrite level in his blood, a pointer to the performance-enhancing drug erythropoietine (EPO).

Though seven-time winner Armstrong has never officially failed a doping test, reports said that there was a positive result for blood-booster EPO during his 1999 victory.

Armstrong, who retired after his 2005 win, has always denied doping.

The T-Mobile team, which suspended star rider Ullrich and team mate Oscar Sevilla on the eve of the race after they were linked to Spain's doping scandal, said controls need to be stiffened.

"If the B sample confirms the (Landis) result, it will be a new blow for cycling," team spokesman Christian Frommert said.

"But something positive could come out of this. Everyone will know that a profound and radical change is necessary. Controls have to be improved to stop spectators thinking, 'They are taking something'."

Floyd Landis fact file
Born: October 14, 1975 in Lancaster, United States
Height: 1.78 metres
Weight: 68kg

Notable career achievements
Won Paris-Nice 2006
Won Tour of California 2006 (plus one stage)
Won Tour of Georgia 2006 (plus one stage)
Won Tour of the Algarve 2004 (plus one stage)
Won Tour of Poitou-Charentes 2000
Won one stage of Tour of Langkawi 2000
Second Dauphine Libere Criterium 2002

Record in major Tours
Tour de France
Won 2006, ninth 2005, 23rd 2004, 77th 2003, 61st 2002
Winner of one stage at Morzine 2006
Five participations. No retirements
Tour of Spain: Held leader's jersey for five days in 2004

Teams
Mercury (1999-2001), US Postal (2002-2004), Phonak (2005-present).


Agence France-Presse

[injuryupdate]

Anyone know what his T:E ratio was? If minimally above 6 he has a chance in court. If it was greater than 10 he is gone.

Almost as astounding as the news that he has tested positive is the news that he needs a hip replacement. This is a suspicious sign for drug use in a young athlete in itself, but amazing that he could win the race with such a bad joint.

[jellybean2]

See today's Cycling News (www.cyclingnews.com) for further information. Some interesting comments. Among other things, there's some media speculation that he used a testosterone patch to recover from Stage 16 (where he crashed and burned and lost 8 minutes). The positive sample came after the end of Stage 17 (where he made the miraculous recovery). While many were stating at the time that "it was the most unbelievable comeback by any athlete of all time" I have to admit my cynical mind was wondering what exogenous agent he used to achieve such a miraculous recovery.

With regard to the hip replacement, according to media reports during the Tour (and we all know how accurate they are), the damage to his hip occurred as the result of a training crash 2 years ago. 'Wonder if the cortisone they have been pumping into it since (see cycling news report) has contributed to that?

[injuryupdate]

From cycling news:

Cycling News Extra for July 28, 2006
Edited by Jeff Jones

Landis denies
Floyd Landis has broken his silence about his high T/E ratio that could cost him the Tour de France, as well as hammering cycling's already battered image. Landis, who has requested a B sample analysis to confirm his A test, told Sports Illustrated, that he "can't be hopeful" that the B sample will be any different than the A. "I'm a realist," he added. When asked whether he had used a testosterone patch for recovery, Landis denied it straight out.

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.

In 1999, Colombian rider Santiago Botero was able to prove his elevated testosterone levels (over four times the allowed limit) were natural. His doctor at the time was Kelme's Dr Eufemiano Fuentes.

Landis is looking for other answers too. He is allowed to take cortisone for his degenerating right hip, although he said during the Tour that he had only had a couple of injections this year. But he also told SI that he'd been taking daily doses of a thyroid hormone to treat a thyroid condition. Even if either of these can explain his high T:E ratio, Landis realises that it will be hard to convince people. "I wouldn't hold it against somebody if they don't believe me," he said.

Others have looked at explanations such as the beer Landis had the night before his stage 17 exploit, citing a study in the American Association for Clinical Chemistry ( Vol 34, 1462-1464, 1988) by Swedish researchers O Falk, E Palonek and I Bjorkhem. In it, they investigated the effects of the ingestion of between 110-160 g of ethanol (2 g/kg bodyweight). They showed that it "increased the ratio between testosterone and epitestosterone in urine from 1.14 +/- 0.07 to 1.52 +/- 0.09 in four healthy male volunteers. The increase ranged from 30% to 90% in the different subjects studied (mean 41%). In cases where doping with testosterone is suspected, the possibility should be considered that at least part of an observed increased testosterone/epitestosterone ratio in urine is ascribable to previous ingestion of ethanol."

As a caveat, Landis was quoted at the time as saying that he'd only had one beer. A pint of normal strength beer generally doesn't contain more than 20 g of alcohol - a much lower level than was studied by the Swedish researchers.

USA Cycling's statement on Landis
As the national federation responsible for American riders, USA Cycling has issued its statement in reaction to the Floyd Landis case. USAC made clear that it would not comment on "any facet of any anti-doping matter out of respect for both the rights of the athlete and the due process. USA Cycling immediately refers all anti-doping matters to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for processing and adjudication.

"'Respecting the due process and the rights of all athletes as a member of the Olympic family, USA Cycling cannot and will not tolerate doping in our sport,' commented Steve Johnson, chief executive officer of USA Cycling. We maintain a zero-tolerance policy with regards to doping and will continue to adhere to the highest standards of fair play.

"In order to protect the integrity and reputation of those athletes who exemplify the Olympic ideals and compete clean, USA Cycling is committed to working with the United States Olympic Committee, the UCI, the U.S. Anti-doping Agency and the World Anti-Doping Agency to ensure a level playing field for all of our athletes."

[jellybean2]

Rumours (only) for today (quoted in First Edition Cycling News for July 31, 2006 - www.cyclingnews.com).

1. Landis A sample showed exogenous rather than endogenous testosterone (i.e. testerone that was artifically introduced to his body, not naturally produced by his body).

2. T:E ratio was 11:1 (German media speculation only). (A T:E ratio of 4:1 warrants further investigation due to suspicion of doping).

'Will be interesting to see how accurate this ends up being. In my experience media often take big risks in what they print about alleged doping cases (i.e. they don't necessarily wait until the true facts are known before printing the "facts") in the effort to be the first and to sell more papers.

[Danny]

I would actually love to see at least one time in the next couple of years, an athlete own up/confess once he or she returns a positive test. I really find it soooooo frustrating that they deny and act as though there is a conspiracy to ruin their careers. Don't take drugs, and you want have to worry about any conspiracy!

[jellybean2]

Unfortunately athletes who cheat by doping generally aren't honest!

Having said that, in some cases I am sure they become so enmeshed in their web of lies and deceit about their use that they actually start to believe their own stories. They then can come across as having been genuinely hard done by when busted.

[Landis a drug cheat]

Looks like landis' excuse of having naturally high testosterone is blown out of the water...test revealed that their was an element of synthetic testosterone in his A sample.


Test results contradict Landis explanation: report

August 1, 2006 - 1:50PM

SMH

Tests show that some of the testosterone in Floyd Landis' system at the Tour de France was synthetic and not naturally produced by his body as he claimed, according to a newspaper report.

The French anti-doping lab testing the American cyclist's samples determined that some of the hormone came from an external source, The New York Times reported on its website, citing a person at the International Cycling Union with knowledge of the result.

The finding undermines the defence that Landis has stood behind since he tested positive for an elevated ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone following the 17th stage of the Tour de France, where he staged a stirring comeback in the Alps to make up for a poor performance the day before.

Looking and sounding defiant, Landis said on Friday his body's natural metabolism - not doping of any kind - caused the result and that he would undergo tests to prove it.

"We will explain to the world why this is not a doping case but a natural occurrence," Landis said at a news conference in Madrid, Spain.

But after determining Landis' ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone was more than twice the limit of 4:1, the lab performed a carbon isotope ratio test on the first of Landis' two urine samples, the person told the Times.

That test determines whether the testosterone is natural or synthetic.

Landis officially requested the testing of his back-up urine sample on monday for an elevated testosterone ratio.

If the "B" test is negative, Landis would be cleared. If it's positive, which Landis' lawyers say they expect, he could be stripped of his Tour victory and banned for two years.

The Times reported that Landis was in New York on Monday and could not be reached for comment.

Testosterone is a naturally occurring male hormone that is banned when it is found in a ratio greater than 4:1 to another hormone, epitestosterone.

Former professional Spanish cyclist Jesus Manzano said he was given testosterone when he competed for the Kelme team and immediately felt its effects.

"It gives you a lot of strength, and it works very well," he wrote in the Spanish sports daily AS on Saturday. "It produces a euphoria."

Oscar Pereiro of Spain, who finished second overall in the Tour de France, would be declared the winner should Landis be the first winner to be disqualified for doping in the history of the race.

AP

[Jellybean2]

Unfortunately athletes who cheat by doping generally aren't honest!

Having said that, in some cases I am sure they become so enmeshed in their web of lies and deceit about their use that they actually start to believe their own stories. They then can come across as having been genuinely hard done by when busted.


Speaking of which ...... if you want a laugh (or Danny, to feel more frustrated!?) have a look at the "Steroid Excuse Quiz" (excuses for having steroids in my test sample)at: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/

There are some beauties!

[injuryupdate]

I think Landis are Gatlin are both GORRRRRRRNE!

[Nicholas]

TOUR DE FRANCE winner Floyd Landis will learn at 7pm (AEST) today whether a test on his B sample confirms a positive test for the male sex hormone testosterone.

"We will release a statement tomorrow," an International Cycling Union (ICU) spokesman said overnight.

The sample has been opened on Thursday at the Laboratoire National de Depistage du Dopage (LNDD) in the presence of the American cyclist's Spanish lawyer Jose Maria Buxeda, plus experts from the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), and the UCI.

If the positive test is confirmed, Landis will be stripped of his Tour victory and Oscar Pereiro Sio of Spain, who finished second overall in this month's race, will be declared the winner.

It would be the first time in the history of the sport's biggest event that a Tour winner has been disqualified for doping.

His Phonak team said Landis would be dismissed if the B result was also positive.

The American, who has denied any wrongdoing and said his body naturally produced high levels of testosterone, has said he intends to continue racing once he has had an operation on his hip.

The 30-year-old tested positive after an astounding comeback in the last mountain stage of this year's Tour in the French Alps, just a day after a very poor performance which all but knocked him out of contention.

If the positive test is confirmed, he will have 10 days to respond to the documents that are provided, according to USADA rules.

Those documents, Landis's response and any documents USADA would provide will go to a review panel some time after the 10 days.

The review panel will make a recommendation whether or not there is a case. USADA, based on that recommendation, will then decide whether to charge Landis.

If USADA does charge the Phonak rider, he would have an opportunity to contest that decision and the recommended sanction before a US panel of judges.

The likely sanction is a two-year suspension from the sport.

Landis's lawyers could then take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and a long procedure would begin.

Testosterone can speed up recovery after exercise and generally improves stamina and strength. Last weekend Olympic 100 metres champion Justin Gatlin admitted he had tested positive for the same hormone.

I'll post a post with the results as soon as I know so as soon as I know, you'll know.

[Nicholas]

I just heard the results. I got this from www.smh.com.au (A Sydney newspaper) website and this is all I could find. I'll find more details when they come but here is all I know for the moment:

The B sample of Tour de France winner Floyd Landis has tested positive for the male sex hormone testosterone, the International Cycling Union says.

The result confirms the American's initial positive drugs test given after his victory on the 17th stage of the Tour on July 20.

[Nicholas]

Here is some more info:

The UCI communicates that the analysis of the sample B of Floyd Landis's urine has confirmed the result of an adverse analytical finding notified by the anti-doping laboratory of Paris on 26th July, following the analysis of the sample A," UCI said in a statement.

"In accordance to the anti-doping rules, the Anti-Doping Commission of the UCI will request that the USA Cycling Federation open a disciplinary procedure against the rider."

The Phonak rider can expect to be stripped of his Tour de France title, lose his E450,000 ($A760,000) prize money and face a two-year ban from the sport.

Oscar Pereiro Sio, who finished 57 seconds adrift of Landis in the overall standings, would then be declared winner of the race, the first Spaniard to win the Tour since Miguel Indurain's last victory in 1995.

According to the good behaviour charter of the teams, Landis would not be allowed into a Pro Tour team for a further two years.

It would be the first time in the history of the sport's biggest event that a Tour winner was disqualified for doping.

Landis, 30, tested positive for testosterone after an astounding comeback in the last mountain stage of the world's greatest cycling race, just a day after a very poor performance which all but knocked him out of contention.

The American has denied any wrongdoing and said his body naturally produced high levels of testosterone.

Landis now has 10 days to respond to the documents that are provided, according to USADA rules.

Those documents, Landis's response and any documents USADA provides, will go to a review panel some time after the 10 days.

The review panel will make a recommendation whether or not there is a case. USADA, based on that recommendation, will then decide whether to charge Landis.

If USADA does charge the Phonak rider, he would have an opportunity to contest that decision and the recommended sanction before a US panel of judges.

Landis's lawyers could then take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and a long procedure would begin.

Testosterone can speed up recovery after exercise and generally improves stamina and strength. Last weekend Olympic 100 metres champion Justin Gatlin admitted he had tested positive for the same hormone.

[jellybean]

Hopefully the war against doping in sport is starting to be won. At least some positive changes are starting to occur as a result of the WADA Code and the widening powers of Anti-Doping agencies such as the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) (the “one stop shop for anti-doping” which replaced ASDA in March this year). Testing is becoming more sophisticated and more targeted (there is a move away from random testing because it is essentially like looking for a needle in a haystack). More importantly however, is the fact that athletes and athlete support personnel can now be “pinged” on a wider range of anti-doping offences. There are now eight “anti-doping rule violations” (ADRV’s) for which an athlete can be sanctioned – including providing a positive sample, use or attempted use of a prohibited substance or method, failing to provide a sample or whereabouts information, tampering with any part of doping control, trafficking, possession and administration or attempted administration of a prohibited substance or method or attempting to cover up an ADRV. In the past only a positive test would do it. In addition, athlete support personnel (e.g. administrators, coaches, sports science or sports medicine personnel) can now also be sanctioned if they are found to have committed an ADRV. On top of this, in Australia as a result of legislative changes, ASADA, Customs, and the Australian Federal Police can now share information and work together in doping cases. (Previously, and ludicrously, legislation prevented them from doing so). In some countries, for example Italy, criminal charges can now be brought against those who are found to have committed an ADRV.

It is clear from the public response to the latest cases (Gaitlin and Flandis) that a majority of the general public are sick of being duped by cheats and want to see pure performance in sport. This will hopefully also assist initiatives such as ASADA’s “Dob in a Cheat” hotline which has apparently already yielded some quality tips.

Patrick Smith had a good (read: informed) piece about this in the Australian on 1st August (“Beware knock on door as Big Brother opens new front to war on drugs”) – sorry don’t have an e-copy to post.

Here’s hoping.

[injuryupdate]

Another Patrick Smith - he is a bit of a raver at times but on the money here:

Level playing field gone foreverBy Patrick Smith
August 08, 2006 THIS was sad radio. David McKenzie, Australian cyclist of the year in 2000, was defending his sport.

Defending cycling. Defending the indefensible. He was passionate and earnest. But that's all he was. He was far from convincing.
Floyd Landis's was the only positive test in the Tour de France, said McKenzie. One test out of 300. Cycling was clean. It is only the very top riders who seem to do it. He implored people to stick with the sport. Keep the faith, he said.

McKenzie has been conned. Conned by Landis. McKenzie reported on the Tour de France for Melbourne radio station SEN. His excitement in describing the breakaway ride by Landis in stage 17 had been infectious.

>This, he said, had been one of the great days in the 103-year history of the event. It was directly after this stage that Landis tested positive to elevated levels of testosterone. His B sample tested positive, too, on the weekend.
The test also found evidence of synthetic testosterone rendering the Landis defence that his high levels were just the function of his body as a lie.

That won't stop Landis from running his defence. Natural high levels, side effects from treatment for a thyroid condition, result of a couple of whiskeys and beers, complication from cortisone injections for his frail hip.

While nobody can take any of this seriously, Landis is yet to sink to the level of US athletics coach Trevor Graham. He has suggested that the positive test to elevated testosterone levels recorded by world champion sprinter Justin Gatlin was due to a disgruntled masseur who rubbed the drug into the runner's legs.

There were more allegations over the weekend that German star Jan Ullrich was given a cocktail of performance-enhancing drugs by the Spanish doctor central to the doping ring that saw nine riders thrown out of the Tour de France. This only underlines how the sport is riddled with drug abuse.

McKenzie's defence that there was only one positive test out of 300 does not stand up. Among those tests were at least eight provided by Landis.

He only tested positive to one. The best that can be said of those 300 tests was that cyclists did not test positive. It does not follow that some of them were not on drugs.

The defence, too, that Landis had nothing to gain by taking drugs after his poor ride in stage 16 can be pushed to the side. People who take drugs to enhance their performance are desperate and they do desperate things.

What media organisations must now weigh up is whether the Tour de France deserves coverage. Of all the words written and pictures and images sent around the world as the media convoy followed this year's Tour, they did not truly convey what was happening.
Landis was hailed as a great sports story. In fact, the positive tests show him to be nothing but a cheat and liar. With Landis testing positive the Tour becomes a hoax.

Drugs have devalued every sport. The recent European swimming championships have seen world records fall to German female swimmers. Britta Steffen broke Libby Lenton's 100m freestyle record and the first question asked of her coach Norbert Warnatzsch was about drugs. Was she clean? At this stage there is no evidence to the contrary.

In athletics, Britain's 400 metres runner Christine Ohuruogu has been banned from competing in this week's European titles because she missed three out-of-competition drug tests.

Ohuruogu won the 400 metres at Melbourne's Commonwealth Games. She ran a personal best time to beat Olympic and world champion Tonique Williams-Darling. Questions are now being asked whether she was tanked to the eyeballs.

In America, chemist Patrick Arnold has been jailed for three months for his part in the Balco drug scandal. Arnold was responsible for THG or Clear, the steroid that was distributed among the Balco athletes. Baseball's Barry Bonds is still being investigated as to whether he used the substances. Last year Bonds' personal trainer was jailed for three months for distributing the banned drugs.

Graham, coach of Gatlin and other star athletes, has been banned from US Olympic facilities because of the number of his runners who have tested positive to drugs. Six have failed drug tests.

Organisers of the Berlin Golden League meeting next month will not allow runners trained by Graham to compete. All of this in a matter of days.

Athletes take drugs because they want to win no matter what the cost or the price. Or damage. It is this philosophy which challenges standards and ethics. Any sport or sportsman who would sacrifice anything and everything to win is vulnerable.

It was impossible not to feel sorry for McKenzie as he defended his sport. He sounded betrayed. What has happened to the sport is not fair on all the clean riders and their supporters. But, with confirmation of synthetic testosterone in his B sample, Landis has single-handedly pedalled cycling to ignominy.

And it cannot be saved.

[jellybean]

Recent events have shot large holes through the age old argument that “I/they must be clean I/they’ve had 100’s of tests and I/they’ve never tested positive”. What does this argument really mean? Purely that they’ve never tested positive, not necessarily that they’re clean.

The following article (a few weeks old now but with some relevant points) highlights the limited efficacy of drug testing and the importance of the now wider range of anti-doping rule violations (doping offences) that athletes and support personnel can be sanctioned under (busted for).

Tour de France has learned drug testing's not the answer
- Gwen Knapp, San Francisco Chronicle - Sunday, July 2, 2006

Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso never failed a drug test.

Jason Grimsley never failed a drug test.

The East Germans. World time-trial cycling champ David Millar. Yuan Yuan, the Chinese swimmer whose luggage for the 1998 World Championships contained 13 vials of human growth hormone.

Never failed a drug test.

It's time to apply the logic of Bill James, who famously redefined batting average as an overrated statistic, to this phrase. "Never failed a drug test'' is virtually meaningless.

When Congressional pressure forced baseball to dramatically increase penalties for failed drug tests last year, trumpets went off on Capitol Hill, naively declaring a major victory. Drug testing alone can't effectively police the chemical shenanigans of the sports world. It's a sieve and a farce. It's Barney Fife in a lab coat.

Ullrich and Basso got the boot from the Tour de France on Friday because of a real police investigation. Confronted with a report on that investigation, which targeted a doctor in Spain, Ullrich and Basso's teams sent them home the day before the start of the Tour. Under the new cycling code of conduct, teams have agreed to bench riders implicated in doping scandals, but only if the allegations appear credible. The very existence of such a code reveals the a lack of faith in the testing process.

Millar's two-year ban, which ended this year, added to the skepticism. The Scotsman confessed to using EPO after police raided his home in France and found evidence of the endurance-boosting drug. His bust echoed the lessons of 1998, when police caught Festina team staffer Willy Voet -- the name has become cycling shorthand for scandal, a la Watergate -- with a car full of drugs as he crossed the border on his way to the Tour.

Richard Virenque, Festina's star, spent two years in strenuous denial before confessing to drug use. The Frenchman wrote a book in his own defense, titled "Ma Verite'' or "My Truth.'' He argued that he was the victim of a conspiracy, which didn't make much sense. Why would the French police and race organizers target their country's best hope for a Tour victory? Why, for that matter, did the French pursue a case that undermined their most hallowed sporting event? If it weren't for their aggressive action, the Tour would have been in the clear. Most of the drug tests were coming back clean.

In baseball, sports fans and journalists routinely assume that players stopped shooting up the minute stringent testing went into effect. Apparently, the main lesson of BALCO has been lost. The case did more than expose a drug ring dedicated to star athletes; it revealed that Victor Conte's lab peddled a drug, THG, that had been specifically engineered to avoid detection.

The feds knocked on Grimsley's door because he was receiving growth hormone, a drug that can't be reliably detected in urine samples. In the affidavit based on his interview with federal agents, Grimsley makes it clear that baseball players adjusted, but didn't abandon, their drug use after testing became more stringent.

Savvy athletes don't fear drug testing. They regard it as a small, irritating obstacle. When they get caught, it's like a college team losing to a nonconference cupcake that was supposed to pad the schedule.

These days, though, they might be afraid of the police. They never know when some officer of the court will turn into a party pooper and actually enforce the law against the rich and famous, instead of just against the lackeys who deliver drugs to the rich and famous.

So far, that hasn't happened in the States. If he had continued cooperating with investigators, Grimsley probably could have gotten away with using growth hormone until the end of his career. Only when he stopped talking did agents decide to go public with the accusations that led to his ban from baseball.

It would be an enormous relief for everyone -- from fans to journalists to competitors -- to believe that testing works. The cynicism and distrust are almost as bad as doping itself. But the safety net isn't there, not to catch the cheaters or protect the innocent from floating suspicion.

Lance Armstrong, who has fended off accusations for years, made the point as well as anyone last week. In a long explanation of his history with doping controls, Armstrong told ESPN's Bob Ley: "I'm not saying my best defense is I've never tested positive.''

Five days later, the Tour de France began with a reduced field because banned riders, such as Ullrich and Basso, were not replaced. But things may balance out, because some gaps in drug testing were filled”. END


With respect to Patrick Smith’s article earlier today, 'agree he’s spot on in many respects. High performance sport today does involve big big bucks and some athletes will do anything to win, with no thought to the cost – whether it be the financial cost (rumour has it Jan Ullrich was paying his Spanish doctor almost $60K per year for his drug cocktail!!; it seems Flandis will lose his $760K Tour prize money not to mention other endorsements and the income from his Team contract), long-term consequences for their health (or the health of any children they may have), let alone the consequences for their sport. The fight against doping in sport will be a long hard one, who knows if it can ever be won? At least, however, some of the newer measures are starting to yield results.

I'm with David McKenzie though in at least one respect, although I may feel a little duped at how some performances are achieved, I'll always love cycling!

[injuryupdate]

It appears that the fight against doping will be like the fight against tax evasion (or to use an analogy closer to sport - the fight to keep teams under the salary cap).

There is too much good incentive to dope (i.e. it helps) that some people will always try, just as some will avoid tax and some teams will cheat the salary cap. What will make a sport have credibility is whether the public feels that doping is confined to a small minority of competitors and that of that minority a decent proportion are pinged by the system.

[jellybean]

It appears that the fight against doping will be like the fight against tax evasion (or to use an analogy closer to sport - the fight to keep teams under the salary cap).

There is too much good incentive to dope (i.e. it helps) that some people will always try, just as some will avoid tax and some teams will cheat the salary cap. What will make a sport have credibility is whether the public feels that doping is confined to a small minority of competitors and that of that minority a decent proportion are pinged by the system.

Very true!