“I don't think it's a possibility next year, or ever, for that matter. … I can't foresee what the politics in cycling will possibly lead to but the organisations in control are not working well together. There are people caught in the crossfire and I happen to be one of them, so I don't know if the opportunity will come up again. I would like to. But it's very sensitive.
“I would need a team to invite me and they would have to be willing to take the risk that they wouldn't be used as some sort of… The UCI and Tour de France don't get on well at the moment and they like to use whatever they can, whatever pawns are in the middle, to try to make a point. Most teams are afraid of giving them any reason to make them the pawn.”
— Floyd Landis, the disgraced 2006 Tour de France champion discussing his chances of returning to race the Tour de France, New Zealand Herald, “Cycling, a man addicted to riding his bike,” Nov. 1, 2009.
Landis, 34, is in New Zealand to prepare for the Tour of Southland, which begins Monday. Reticent for much of the past year as he returned to pro cycling with the OUCH Team, Landis spoke with the newspaper about his future.
He was invited to compete in the Tour of Southland after the Cyclingnzshop.com Biosport team needed to add another cyclist to the roster.
The Tour runs from Monday through Saturday this week.
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