See update: El Tour de Tucson bike ride in November
While doping charges cloud his future in cycling, Floyd Landis visited the El Tour de Tucson bike ride that drew 8,125 participants this year.
Landis helped start the event on Saturday, watched from a scaffold, and talked with some of his supporters. He didn't participate in the 109-mile ride itself, although he has ridden in past years and actually won the race on a tandem in 1997.
The tandem's pilot that year was Dr. Arnie Baker, Landis' personal physician, who expanded on the cyclist's doping defenses at a presentation in Tucson Friday evening.
Baker told the gathering of about 100 :
“There is no basis for a positive test in the first place. How it got this far in the first place, I have no idea. But I've looked at the test, and to me, it's appalling.”
Baker also displayed some of the documents that had been hacked from the French lab and said they raise questions about the quality of the lab's work.
Slideshow
Baker's slideshow presentation, updated from an earlier version presented about a month ago, is available as a.pdf document at the Arnie Baker website.. The so-called “whistle-blower” documents — the ones purloined by the hacker — are at the end of the presentation. Generally, they recount instances where the lab screwed up other cases.
An in-depth discussion of the documents is at the Trust but Verify website.
Race founder Richard DeBernardis invited Landis to the 24th edition of the ride. DeBernardis told the Arizona Daily Star:
“When I introduced Floyd, everyone applauded and wouldn't stop applauding. It was a good showing that all of us cyclists in America are behind him.”
Landis was quoted in Tucson Citizen:
“I'm really not supposed to talk. If the public can see what went on, they'd know why I'm spending all my time promoting (the clearing of my name).”
Winner
The Tucson bike ride is a fund-raiser for Tu Nidito Family Services, the American Parkinson Disease Association, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and Global Sports Alliance.
The winner of the 109-mile bicyce race was Michael Grabinger of Flagstaff in about 4 hours and 15 minutes; David Salomon of Sonora, Mexico, finished second.
Of all the cyclists, 4,789 rode the long distance, while others rode shorter versions of 80, 67, and 33 miles.
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