It was the French milk.

The crazy thing is this makes it seem like doping really works. He went from crash-and-burn to superstar with a little injection. What does this mean for the future of "clean" sport?

Maybe he didn't... Landis claims he 'bonked' on that bad day (it happened to Armstrong second year he won). 2nd test results Saturday - so jury's out until then (or it should be...).

Here's the rough draft of my conspiracy theory, get out your big canvases class, we'll be using the BIG brushes today.

So let's see, how many years have the 'Mericans 'ad the Tour de France?

Many, you say. there was armstrong and then that guy Lemond (actually an American, he was just messing with the collective franco noggin.)

So the Froglets have had just about enough of this American international bullying and they are going to get their silver plated water bottle or whatever chalice it is that the winner gets, back.

A few krugerrands in the right hands and anything can happen, heck. If someone wanted, they could take a DNA sample and prove that Landis is the father of Michael Jackson.

(Please read Terry Southern's "The Magic Christian" for examples of this type of scheme in action. For the lysdexics among us you can also see the film of the same title starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr)

Cliff notes:
Frogs want the race back in any hands but ours.
Someone in the long chain of events slips Landis a mickey.
Doubts are cast upon L's integrity, and he is put on the defensive.
Subsequent test results can also be manipulated as needed.

Finally, do you hear us pissing and moaning about not having won the America's Cup in so long that we sold the mantle it used to sit upon for architectural salvage?

It would be really easy for seakdivers to weld some kind of special keel on the winner's boat and we could claim cheating...

But no. We're not sore losers.

/crazy talk

Mickey
 

Post-bonk high performance on the next day is a phenomenon known to most competitive cyclists, even this formerly competitive cyclist. In that regard I was not surprised to see Landis cruise past the leaders to win that stage
(17?). The truth may never be know to anyone other than Landis (or the person/s who slipped him a Mickey). :neutral:

I guess now it's official.

What a shame. I'm disappointed in him.

... and for him, I hope. Perhaps another Lynford Christie conundrum. Landis seems pretty sure of his position and ready for a legal battle. However, the media and sporting fans are more likely to draw a line here and call it a closed decision - as they did with Christie and his infamous drug test following an event that logic says he would never have bothered trying to improve for.

Landis' situation makes no sense considering the support he received from previous team-mate Armstrong. Still, a second positive result is just that and he will have to work damned hard to prove otherwise. The accompanying two-year ban isn't going to help him either....

How could anyone think they'd be able to get away with this? Could they be in that much denial?

Maybe that's a reason to question that the test result came from an external source and/or that it was deliberately taken by Landis....

The timing of the introduction of excess testosterone doesn't help him much, though, if one follows the coincidence theory - all too convenient that it followed a bad day and then startling results followed. He did however do just as well in subsequent days, but no positive tests resulted.

Does a single dose of testosterone give increased performance for a long period? Conversely, why didn't his body produce excess testosterone at other times?

Mysteries to be unravelled.....

I was under the impression that testosterone doesn't do anything at all for you in the short run.

I was under the impression that it wasn't excess testosterone, but synthetic testosterone that got the official knickers in a twist.

So they say - but I was thinking more about Landis' argument that his body produces excess testosterone, and questioning why, if it did so, it only happened the once (or rather was picked up the once) throughout the Tour...

I can't say for landis, but my body always produces excess testosterone when I take steroids...
snicker