American cyclist Floyd Landis pleaded with fans and the sports world Thursday, asking for a chance to prove his innocence after disclosures of irregular drug-test results en route to his dramatic triumph at the Tour de France.
In a conference call with reporters four days after his Sunday victory, Landis denied using performance-enhancing drugs. He complained that “a lot of people are going to feel I’m guilty before I’ve had a chance to defend myself.”
Landis said, “I would like to be presumed innocent until proven guilty – since that’s the way we do things in America.”
His coach, Robbie Ventura, said Landis “did nothing wrong” and predicted: “They’re going to find no evidence, no proof” he used drugs.
Landis’ cycling team, Swiss- based Phonak, announced earlier Thursday that Landis had tested for elevated levels of testosterone, a banned substance. The team suspended him pending further inquiry.
The high levels of testosterone were detected in a urine sample taken after stage 17, one of the most remarkable rides in the annals of cycling.
On July 20, Landis broke away from the pack and, attacking over a series of Alpine passes, won the grueling mountain stage by nearly six minutes. Coming the day after a disappointing performance had cost him the lead, stage 17 thrust him back into contention.
Landis, who raced with a painful hip ailment, described “a disastrous feeling” when he was formally notified Wednesday about the irregular test results.
“There was no way for me to be able to tell myself this wasn’t going to be a disaster,” he said.
Landis, 30, has not been charged with a doping offense, and additional testing will be conducted.
A second urine sample is due to be tested in the coming days; if it also turns up elevated levels, that would prompt formal allegations of an offense. Hearings by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency would typically follow to determine whether a violation occurred. A violation would mean the loss of his Tour win and a probable two-year suspension.
Seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong, who was riding in RAGBRAI, an annual bike ride across Iowa that attracts thousands of riders, said he would wait to see the results from Landis’ second sample.
“Until that happens, I don’t have anything to say,” Armstrong told The Associated Press.
Greg LeMond, a three-time winner of the Tour, the first in 1986, said Thursday on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” that if “there was an upside to a downside story,” it’s that “this could be the best thing moving forward for cycling and sports in general.”
“I think there is nobody who wants to see cheaters winning races,” he said. “I’m not saying Landis is a cheater – I will wait until that (backup) sample comes out. I have a lot of respect for Landis. I hope it isn’t the case.”
Landis said Thursday that he has a thyroid condition and has been taking small amounts of medication daily. He also said he had received a waiver from cycling officials for the use of cortisone, a substance that would otherwise be banned, for an ailing hip.
The night before stage 17, convinced he had little chance to win the Tour, he had a beer and some Jack Daniels whiskey, he said.
But he said he had no idea why his testosterone levels were, as his Phonak team put it in a public statement, “unusual.”
A doping violation involving the champion could prove to be one of the biggest scandals in the Tour de France’s lengthy history – and the Tour, especially in recent years, has been stained by a series of doping issues. If Landis proves liable, organizers said, “the feelings of all Tour de France enthusiasts will be dominated by anger and sadness.”
Tour de Shame
A list of some of the doping incidents associated with the Tour de France:
2006 – Tour champion Floyd Landis is told he tested positive for high testosterone levels after his gritty Stage 17 comeback. The Phonak team suspends the American, who denies cheating and awaits test results on the backup sample.
On the eve of the Tour’s start, nine riders – including prerace favorites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso – are ousted, implicated in a Spanish doping investigation.
2005 – The French sports daily L’Equipe reports that six of Lance Armstrong’s urine samples from 1999 were positive for the endurance-boosting hormone EPO when retested in 2004. Dutch investigators clear him of the allegations the following year.
Italian cyclist Dario Frigo and his wife are arrested after about 10 doses of the banned endurance-boosting hormone EPO are found in her car at a toll station.
Evgeni Petrov of Russia is kicked off the Tour before the 10th stage for failing a blood test.
2004 – Three riders under investigation for suspected doping are banned from the race: Danilo Di Luca of Italy, David Millar of Britain and Cedric Vasseur of France.
Two positive tests from the Tour both belong to Belgian rider Christophe Brandt, who is expelled for using a a heroin substitute.
2003 – Spanish cyclist Javier Pascual Llorente tests positive for EPO, the only positive test from the Tour.
2002 – Lithuanian cyclist Raimondas Rumsas is arrested in Italy for doping charges stemming from his participation in the 2002 Tour. All samples collected from cyclists during the Tour this year, however, are negative.
2001 – Spanish cyclist Txema Del Olmo fails an EPO test, the only positive test from the Tour. His team drops him from the race.
2000 – Three unnamed riders are expelled from the Tour hours before it begins after failing blood tests.
1998 – Six Festina team members are kicked out of the Tour after team director Bruno Roussel and team doctor Eric Ryckaert are placed under investigation in a doping scandal. Armin Meier admits taking EPO.
Several teams pull out of the tour, including Dutch team TVM.
1967 – Britain’s Tom Simpson has a fatal heart attack on the climb up Mont Ventoux because of heat exhaustion and amphetamine use.
– AP
What they’re saying about Floyd Landis
Landis’ Tour de France victory was thrown into question Thursday when his team said he tested positive for abnormal testosterone levels after Stage 17. Some of the reaction:
“I hope like heck (the test) comes out negative. If not, I hope Floyd has the courage and integrity to come clean, for his own well-being and for the sport. I believe human beings are capable of empathy and forgiveness.” – Greg LeMond, three-time Tour de France winner
“Until that happens, I don’t have anything to say.” – Lance Armstrong, seven-time Tour winner who is waiting to hear the results from his former U.S. Postal Service teammate’s second sample
“There is always someone who wants to make a bigger bet than everyone else. It saddens me. We established rules in 1998 that some people still choose not to respect.” – Laurent Brochard, 1997 cycling world champion
“I’m surprised that someone could get caught stupidly after making such a beautiful stage win and winning the Tour.” – Christophe Basson, a former cyclist with the Francaise du Jeu team, interviewed on LCI, a French all-news television channel. Basson gave up cycling in 2001 to become a gym teacher because he was “disgusted” with the sport.
“We are confident in the first (test). For us, the first one is already good.” – Enrico Carpani, spokesman for the International Cycling Union
“We will be saddened if, unfortunately, the (backup) test confirms what the first test showed. It’s anger more than anything else….We are going to have to make those who haven’t understood it yet understand it now.” – Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France
– Denver Post wire services
