Landis on Drugs?

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So what to make of the drug charges that newly crowned Tour de France winner Floyd Landis is chasing?
I was amazed to read that it was Landis who’d been charged. At some point yesterday I heard a vague radio report that one of the riders in this year’s Tour had been found positive for drugs. It was only reading the paper on the way home that I found out who it was.
The drugs charges arise from samples taken from him on Stage 17 into Morzine. This was an amazing stage when, after being dropped the previous day and losing more than ten minutes the previous day and dropping back down to 11th overall, he came back and rode away for 130km gaining enough time to put him back into contention. Whilst he didn’t end up in yellow, he was close enough to his rivals that by the penultimate stage’s time-trial, he was able to decisively win the tour. It was an incredible comeback after a poor day in the mountains the day before.
The drug in question is testosterone which is an unusual drug to choose in these days of hi-tech blood-doping. But it can be either injected or enter the bloodstream via a patch (much like nicotein patches do).
Landis has flat-out denied that he’s guilty, but by Monday we should know the result of the B sample which double checks the results of the first blood test.
What do we believe until then?


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