Read about it here. For audio, click here, here and here.
Meanwhile, the grand poohbah of international cycling was promising swift action:
Pat McQuaid said he was disgusted with the way drug accusations overshadowed this year's Tour de France -- and promised within the next few weeks he would unveil "a crusade against doping" to ensure it didn't happen again. He declined to discuss specifics of his plans.
"Crusade against doping" or "war on drugs," it all sounds the same to me. I'm guessing it will be just as effective too.
My interaction with the story this week has been sort of odd, as people at work have actually been talking about it, not something I'm used to. On Tuesday, I went to lunch with a colleague who was a committed Landis supporter, and I told her that I wouldn't be surprised if we heard after the fact that Landis was doping.
Then, while I was grabbing some cash from an ATM earlier today, another colleague tapped me on the shoulder to tell me he was convinced that Landis was set up all along, and that the French were just tired of seeing arrogant Americans win their blessed event over and over.
What's the point? I can't really believe that the story has become this big.
I'll say one thing about Landis: If I was innocent, I would have followed the same course he's done so far. He's been very forthright with the press, and afforded just the sort of access that you'd expect out of an innocent man. Even the conference call he held yesterday went on longer than his handlers had planned (they said 3-5 questions at the top of the call, with the fudge factor built in in case the questions got too hot is what I'm guessing).
If this guy is lying, it's about 10 times worse than Rafael Palmeiro given that the whole world is watching.
I'll give you the name of one person who's probably relieved: Zinedine Zidane. He's been taken off the press rack to make room for Landis.
Lots of stuff from Jim Henley.
UPDATE: Thanks to the folks at NPR for rushing out this transcript of an interview of Landis by Michele Norris.
FLOYD LANDIS INTERVIEWED ON NPR'S "ALL THINGS CONSIDERED" BY MICHELE NORRISJULY 28, 2006
SPEAKER: FLOYD LANDIS, TOUR DE FRANCE WINNER
[*]
QUESTION: Cyclist Floyd Landis joins us now from Madrid. And, Mr. Landis, let's just get right to it. Were you doping in the Tour de France?
LANDIS: Absolutely not.
QUESTION: And you explain that you had unusually high levels of testosterone in your system for natural reasons -- natural reasons.
LANDIS: No, that's not actually accurate. What I had was a test which showed a ratio of two natural substances; one testosterone, and one epitestosterone. They have a formula which is supposed to fit everybody which says that a 4:1 ratio is the maximum of a normal ratio.
What actually happened here was there's a so-called unnatural ratio of two natural substances. There's no evidence of any unnatural substance in my body.
QUESTION: If you maintain that you haven't taken any drugs, that you did nothing to goose your performance, what would explain these test results?
LANDIS: That's what I have hired experts to figure out. I cannot explain it because this is equally as new to me as to anyone else paying attention to this case right now.
QUESTION: It's curious why this wasn't detected earlier, since you were tested at several points throughout the race.
LANDIS: That seems odd to me also. And from that perspective, none of it makes any sense. I've been tested five times before that in this race alone. In the other three races, which I won previously this year -- which I've not talked about much, but they're equally as important races as any -- and I've been tested four times in each one.
QUESTION: What do you do if that B-sample comes back the same way?
LANDIS: I expect that it will. The problem is not a problem with the test as far as I know. The problem is that, at times, from the way it's been explained to me, there are variations in the ratio. And for some reason, in some individuals there are numbers which don't fit the criteria which they claim to be natural.
On top of that, if you go to the World Anti-Doping association Web site, you can read about this, and it explains there that sometimes these levels are natural, even though they don't fit the criteria.
QUESTION: So if it comes back, do you just hand over that bowl, hand over that jersey, or do you plan to fight this...
LANDIS: No, I plan to...
QUESTION: ... all the way to arbitration court.
LANDIS: No, I plan at the same time that I request the B sample to ask for an endocrinological review of my body to prove that there are times during the day or at some points that if I were tested I would be shown to be out of the 4:1 ratio, albeit from a natural cause. Explaining that, I can't. I'm waiting for the experts to do that.
QUESTION: A natural cause. What might that be?
LANDIS: Like I said, I have no idea. That's why I have experts working on it.
QUESTION: You've been asked in the past few days a few times now if you've ever taken performance-enhancing drugs, and your answer was, if I may say, a little elliptical. You weren't as clear as some of your racing fans might have hoped. Why not a simple yes-or-no answer to that question?
LANDIS: The answer is no, and I think that was a mistake. I was trying at the time to see things from the point of view of the outside world, knowing that people may or may not have already preconceived ideas about cycling, because there has been a few cases, too many times in a row, in the past, and I was trying to fairly judge what the outside perspective would be. So rather than just saying no, I tried to explain why I understood if people didn't believe me at the time.
QUESTION: Floyd, how's your hip?
LANDIS: My hip is the same as it was before. It's not perfect, and it's going to get replaced within a few weeks, and I'm very happy about that, because I plan to race again next year. And anybody that thinks I'm not a fighter and not going to stand up for what I deserve, then they didn't watch the race.
QUESTION: Floyd Landis, thanks so much for talking to us.
LANDIS: Thank you. I appreciate that.
QUESTION: That was cyclist Floyd Landis, speaking to us from Madrid, Spain.
NPR promises an archived audio stream soon.
I want to thank you for covering this because its a huge story even though most sports fans care little and understand less about cycling. I for one have two passions, hockey and cycling. Odd combination, yes but something highly competitive that I can do almost year round here in Carolina as their common bond is passion. Ive met few casual hockey fans and no one rides a bike 60 or 70 miles in this heat without similar passion. I could have retired to my own island had I taken the Carolina Hurricane/Floyd Landis double last October.
If your a puck head let me tell you that while there are drug cheats in every sport there are clean guys who work their ass off too. Skating in the summer while your boys are at the beach is just like going for a 50 mile ride in the cold november rain ( sorry) because your thinking about racing in July. Landis is one of those guys. He’s been on the tour for 10 yrs. He was on US Postal with Armstrong. He won everything he entered all spring and has never been positive. This thing smells like a rat. One that has been downing copious amounts of red wine and bleu cheese.
An interesting parallel between the pucks and the pedals is that taking an anabolic steroid before a stage of the tour would be like taking one before a cup final game. It would be pointless. You could say that it might make some sense in hockey long term to help the athlete recover from the grind of the schedule and build muscle but even then it would make more sense for a hockey player to take EPO so they could get more oxygen to their muscles for high intensity intervals otherwise known as shifts.
Cyclists simply dont take muscle building anabolics. It isnt done. The weight would make you slower in an almost jockey-like arena where teams spend thousands to shave grams. Blood thinning, doping, amphetamines, anything involving oxygen delivery, all would be distressing but believeable. The UN, lead by the french, keeping peace in the middle east, is more believable.
Another bogus bit of information being thrown out by irresponsible journalists is that Landis had a high level of testosterone. Not true. His “T” level was actually low. It was his ratio of “T” to “E” ( epitestoterone) that was out of whack because the E was low. Dozens of things could have caused the E to be low, the stress of the event, the cortizone shots for the hip, the whiskey from the night before, but had Landis been insane enough to try to take some form of testosterone before a stage he planned to win, knowing full well he would be tested, then he also would have taken the epi in order to keep the ratios in line.
The french tried for years to screw Armstrong but he’s nasty like Gordie Howe with skills and an edge if you look at him wrong and he used his foundation and influence to sue everyone who ever wrote a speculative line about him. Landis doesnt have that network, money, or power.
North American sports fans everywhere can be proud of Landis even if your ilk is the blade and not the pedal, just be glad Mick McGeough isnt testing your pee.