Cyclist Floyd Landis' attorneys are objecting to a ruling that allows retesting of his Tour de France urine samples that had previously been found to be negative.
To add insult to injury, the samples will be retested at the same French laboratory where Landis alleges mistakes were made that resulted in positive results on “A” and “B” urine samples and led to charges of blood-doping against the 2006 Tour de France winner.
Landis has been battling the doping charges since shortly after the conclusion of the Tour de France. If he loses his upcoming case (scheduled to begin May 14 in Malibu) and any subsequent appeals, he would be stripped of his Tour de France championship and be banned from professional cycling for two years.
Landis camp
Over the past few months, all the news has been coming out of the Landis camp. He's assembled a team that posted the lab results online (see the FloydLandis.com blog) and has consistently poked holes and found shortcomings in the results of the French doping lab that tested the samples.
The arbitrators ruling, made last month but reported Wednesday night in the Los Angeles Times, is one of the first inklings of what prosecutors in the case may be up to.
Much has been said about Landis getting passing scores on 7 of samples and failing only one. If a retest of the “B” samples shows evidence of blood doping, doesn't that also prove that the lab is unable to reach consistent results when testing samples?
The Times said that the “USADA wishes to subject the samples to an ostensibly more rigorous test than had been done.” Will they be testing for synthetic testosterone, which was found in the follow-up tests last summer?
No new charges
Also, the attorneys point out that once the “B” samples are retested, there are no samples left to doublecheck the results, therefore no new charges could be filed. The arbitrators said they'd reserve judgement on whether to consider the results as evidence.
Further, the USADA prosecutors are demanding Landis' medical records and financial records from his legal defense fund — the Floyd Fairness Fund, including the names of those contributing $250 or more. Landis is calling that harassment.
If you want to delve much deeper into this, check out the excellent Trust But Verify blog, where a copy of the arbitration decision is available online, along with summaries and comments.
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