King Kaufman's Sports Daily
Tour de France shocker: Champion Landis tests positive. Just what cycling doesn't need, but can't seem to avoid.
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July 27, 2006 | So much for the new hero?
Not necessarily. Not yet, but Thursday's shocking news that Tour de France winner Floyd Landis had tested positive for elevated testosterone levels is exactly what the sport of cycling didn't need this week. Or ever.
Shocking yes, surprising no. The Tour de France and the sport of cycle racing are neck deep in a seemingly endless round of doping scandals. If this keeps up, it'll be deeper than neck deep soon enough.
Landis' team sponsor, Phonak Hearing Systems, announced on its Web site Thursday -- the site is down at this writing -- that it had been notified Wednesday of the rider's Stage 17 sample containing "an unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone." Phonak, saying both the team and the rider were "totally surprised," suspended Landis Thursday, a routine move pending a backup test.
The Alpine 17th stage, run on July 20, was the one in which Landis, 30, staged a remarkable comeback that many cycling observers called the greatest ride in recent Tour history, by which they meant "recent" in the European sense, maybe a half-century. Winning the Alpine stage a day after dropping to 11th place overall, Landis rebounded to third place. He regained the yellow jersey two days later.
Landis' win kept the Tour de France championship in American hands for the eighth straight year, following Lance Armstrong's seven-year winning streak.
Interest in the event, as judged by television ratings, plummeted this year -- not just in the United States but in cycling hotbeds France and Germany -- with Armstrong's absence and yet another doping scandal. But Landis' incredible story, winning the grueling event by overcoming a degenerative hip condition that will require replacement surgery, had set him up as a star who could attract interest in coming years if he were able to return.
He may still be able to manage that trick, and if so, Thursday's news would just be another difficulty for him to overcome, another part of the story. But at some point, the constant beat of the drug scandals is going to damage the sport's reputation beyond repair.
Speaking on ESPNews, John Eustice, the network's cycling analyst, said, "If this is indeed true and it all does come out, it'll be the greatest blow the sport has ever, ever, ever had." But he also cautioned that Landis is a long way from being convicted.
"Every time an athlete has disputed a testosterone test," he said, "they have won. So the test is not quite as reliable as everyone thinks."
The winner of each stage is tested, as is the overall leader and several randomly chosen riders. Landis' positive test was on his "A" sample. He won't face discipline from the International Cycling Union unless the backup "B" sample also comes back positive in the next few days. Phonak says it'll fire the rider if that happens.