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10-09-2006, 02:52 PM
Floyd Landis, facing accusations that he took illegal performance-enhancing substances to win the Tour de France, plans to present his defense on his personal Web site this week, he told USA Today.
Landis laid out the evidence he will post on his Web site for the newspaper, including allegations that officials at the World Anti-Doping Administration laboratory in France failed to follow protocols with his test samples.
Landis tested positive for elevated testosterone after winning this year's Tour de France and was fired by his Phonak team in August. Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme has said he no longer considers Landis the champion.
Urine tests were taken July 20 following Landis' dramatic Stage 17 victory during a grueling mountain stage, when he regained nearly eight minutes on leader Oscar Pereiro. Landis' "A" and "B" samples turned up a ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone of 11:1 -- far in excess of the 4:1 limit. But Landis' legal team has claimed major mistakes were made in the tests that came up positive for synthetic testosterone.
San Diego physician and cycling coach Arnie Baker, who prepared a Power Point presentation made available to USA Today, told the newspaper that the information is being made public in line with Landis' desire that his hearing before the U.S. Anti-Doping Administration be open to the public.
"[Landis] wants everything out in the open," Baker told the newspaper. "People have been making up their minds about this case since it was leaked [by the international cycling federation] in July ... The [USADA] hearing may not happen for a long time, so Floyd felt it was necessary to let the public see everything, to get all the information that they need right now."
Among the key assertions made by Landis in the presentation:
• Officials at the WADA lab wrote down urine sample numbers on testing forms that did not match Landis' rider-sample number and did not follow protocol in correcting the errors on the forms. Landis spokesman Michael Henson told USA Today that Landis is not alleging that the positive sample is not his, but that the lab work was sloppy.
• That the "positive" results from the carbon isotope test for testosterone ratio are incorrect because the data indicates that he was out of the acceptable range in only one of four testosterone breakdown products examined. All four breakdown products must be abnormal for a test to be considered a positive, Landis says.
• That the USADA Review Board rejected Landis' request for summary dismissal of the charges without hearing the evidence.
USA Today reported WADA offices in Montreal and USADA offices in Colorado Springs, Col. were closed Saturday and officials were not available for comment.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Landis laid out the evidence he will post on his Web site for the newspaper, including allegations that officials at the World Anti-Doping Administration laboratory in France failed to follow protocols with his test samples.
Landis tested positive for elevated testosterone after winning this year's Tour de France and was fired by his Phonak team in August. Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme has said he no longer considers Landis the champion.
Urine tests were taken July 20 following Landis' dramatic Stage 17 victory during a grueling mountain stage, when he regained nearly eight minutes on leader Oscar Pereiro. Landis' "A" and "B" samples turned up a ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone of 11:1 -- far in excess of the 4:1 limit. But Landis' legal team has claimed major mistakes were made in the tests that came up positive for synthetic testosterone.
San Diego physician and cycling coach Arnie Baker, who prepared a Power Point presentation made available to USA Today, told the newspaper that the information is being made public in line with Landis' desire that his hearing before the U.S. Anti-Doping Administration be open to the public.
"[Landis] wants everything out in the open," Baker told the newspaper. "People have been making up their minds about this case since it was leaked [by the international cycling federation] in July ... The [USADA] hearing may not happen for a long time, so Floyd felt it was necessary to let the public see everything, to get all the information that they need right now."
Among the key assertions made by Landis in the presentation:
• Officials at the WADA lab wrote down urine sample numbers on testing forms that did not match Landis' rider-sample number and did not follow protocol in correcting the errors on the forms. Landis spokesman Michael Henson told USA Today that Landis is not alleging that the positive sample is not his, but that the lab work was sloppy.
• That the "positive" results from the carbon isotope test for testosterone ratio are incorrect because the data indicates that he was out of the acceptable range in only one of four testosterone breakdown products examined. All four breakdown products must be abnormal for a test to be considered a positive, Landis says.
• That the USADA Review Board rejected Landis' request for summary dismissal of the charges without hearing the evidence.
USA Today reported WADA offices in Montreal and USADA offices in Colorado Springs, Col. were closed Saturday and officials were not available for comment.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.