Floyd Landis is saying he'll quit the sport of bicycling if a review of his doping case by US authorities leads to a long suspension.
Doesn't it seem a little early to be making those kinds of threats? Landis has been working up a defense to the doping charges and trying to raise doubts about the veracity of the lab tests. His case will be heard before the US Anti-Doping Agency early next year. He hasn't lost yet.
If the charges are upheld, the authorities might be all too willing to test his threat, considering all the grief he's dished out to the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and the French testing lab since the accusations were made after the 2006 Tour de France.
Landis is quoted in Eurosport:
“I wasn't the highest paid cyclist and it's looking like this might cost be $500,000. I think the authorities know I'll run out of money. They've said they'll appeal if they lose the hearing and that might take another year.
“If I'm banned for four years and stripped of my title and prize money, I'll never race again. My desire for it would have been obliterated.”
Four years sounds like a long suspension for a first offense; others, like Tyler Hamilton, received a two-year ban. (In a September article in the San Diego Union, where Landis previously made this assertion that he'd quit, it's explained that testosterone violations typically bring a two-year ban. Further, Tour de France rules require cyclists wait an additional two years after sanctions expire before they can compete in that race.)
Even if the charges against him don't stick, Landis says there will be no winners in this case.
“How can cycing win? Either the winner of its greatest race is a cheat or the credibility of the system is in tatters if I'm found innocent. Neither is a great result.”
A slideshow of the latest version of his defense is available online at his blog, FloydLandis.com.
If you're searching for more information about Landis, check out the Trust but Verify blog; he has pulled some interesting quotes from a series in the Los Angeles Times on Sunday and Monday about the nefarious workings of the anti-doping agencies.
Meanwhile, Peloton Jim at Endless Cycle points out that America's first Tour winner, Greg Lemond, sounds like “a bitter ex-pro” when commenting on Landis and drugs.
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