Landis’ “B” sample comes back positive
On Saturday morning, cyclist Floyd Landis’ “B” sample test results were announced and it’s not looking good for Landis. The test came back with a higher than allowable T/E ratio of 4:1 of testosterone to epitestosterone with an 11:1 ratio. ESPN is also reporting that the sample indicated that it was synthetic testosterone.
“I have received a text message from Chatenay-Malabry lab that indicates the ‘B’ sample of Floyd Landis’ urine confirms testosterone was taken in an exogenous way,” Pierre Bordry, who heads the French anti-doping council, told The Associated Press shortly after the “B” sample results were released.
Landis has been fired from team Phonak and is no longer considered the 2006 Tour de France winner, although International Cycling Union has to decide to strip his title.
I was going to do a Part Three in my series (Part One and Part Two), but there doesn’t really seem to be a whole lot of differences between the stories as there potentially could’ve been. The one main difference sprinter Justin Gatlin and cyclist Floyd Landis is that Gatlin’s sanction would be a lifetime ban whereas Landis would be two years plus another two years without riding for a top 20 ProTour team.
Update: Landis posted a message on his website and I thought this paragraph was the most interesting:
It is widely known that the test in question, given as a urine sample after my victorious ride on stage 17 of the Tour de France, returned an abnormal T/E ratio from the “A†sample. I want to be entirely clear about one point of the test that has not been fairly reported in the press or expressed in any statements made by international or national governing bodies; the T value returned has been determined to be in the normal range. The E value returned was LOW, thus causing the skewed ratio. This evidence supports my assertion that I did not use testosterone to improve my performance. I emphatically deny any claims that I used testosterone to improve my performance.
Then why did the sample also show synthetic testosterone? I’m very confused…
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