So what are we to think now?
by Mike on Aug.06, 2006, under Cycling
With yesterday’s confirmation of the adverse finding in Floyd Landis’ B sample, Floyd was fired by Phonak and the matter truned over to USA Cycling for disciplinary actions.
Floyd continues to protest his innocence and will appeal, which will leave the winner of the 2006 Tour in limbo for likely 4-6 months.
So what are you and I, Joe cycling fan, to think? I would like to believe Floyd is innocent and that he is the true champion of the Tour. In an article about Lance in today’s DMN, it was said that Floyd was livid in the 2004 Tour because some riders were doping. This would be consistent with Floyd’s claim of innocence. However, at the time he was not a team captain, and was not under the pressure that GC men in the Tour are under.
That same article mentioned steps Lance and Greg LeMond took to protect themselves from being sabotaged with tainted food or waterbottles. Perhaps someone snuck in a tainted roll or waterbottle in order to cause Floyd to fail the drug test. Given that exogenous testosterone was reportedly found, this could be possible.
On the flip side, “me thinks thou dost protest too much”. I think that Floyd has been fairly straight forward with his comments, but his legal team and spokespeople have thrown out every excuse, challenged the accuracy of every test, etc. Sounds a little like Jan Ullrich, although, again, it is Floyd’s representatives and not Floyd making the comments.
So where do we go from here. I think the Floyd has a long uphill battle to “prove a negative”. If he is clean, I hope he is successful. If he is guilty, I hope he comes clean. Only time will tell.
Those are my thoughts – where do you stand on this issue?
