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ProTour leader Valverde crashed out of the third stage Tour.

Voigt wins one at home

A small vial tucked away inside the Châtenay-Malabry laboratory near Paris contains what is probably one of the most-watched batches of urine in recent sports history. Officials are expecting a Saturday conclusion to a counter-analysis of Floyd Landis’ “B” samples, taken after his heroic victory in stage 17 into Morzine during the 2006 Tour de France. Lab technicians began work on the counter-analysis on Thursday. Landis’ own attorneys expect the tests to confirm the unusual T/E ratio, which was confirmed by Landis’ representatives to reflect an 11-to-1 ratio of testosterone to

An unnamed retired Italian sprinter insists that cycling has lost the war on doping and that no one can win major three-week races like the Giro d’Italia without resorting to banned performance-enhancing practices. La Gazzetta dello Sport ran the candid interview with the ex-pro, now retired for five seasons who won “six major races” during his career at the elite level. He now works as a carpenter, but didn’t want his name to be published in the story. “Do I know a racer that wins clean? None. No one can win the Giro without doping. I don’t believe it’s possible,” he said in La Gazzetta

Sastre finishes Tour de France stage 17 in Morzine

The 25-year-old Bazayev beat some experienced sprinters into Bielefeld.

The head of a leading international anti-doping laboratory on Tuesday called for a complete change in the strategy used to fight illicit testosterone use in sport, warning that current detection methods were inadequate. Martial Saugy, the head of the Swiss anti-doping laboratory in Lausanne, said the science of detection had fallen behind because of fears of legal wrangling, while testosterone doping methods had become more sophisticated. Doses used when the approved testing methods were set up in 1982 were "massive", he explained in interviews with Swiss radio RSR. "We are no longer in

Spanish authorities are investigating links between Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes – the central figure of the ongoing “Operación Puerto” investigation – and possible connections to doping networks in Germany and Italy. According to reports in the Spanish daily El País, members of the anti-doping brigade are working with Italian and German officials to follow up on alleged connections between Fuentes and sources of doping products in those respective countries. Some police investigators believe there could be a large, pan-European network of alliances between doping rings in Spain, Italy

Some of the testosterone found in Tour de France winner Floyd Landis' "A" sample is from an external source and not his body's, The New York Times reported on Tuesday, quoting an unidentified UCI official. The carbon isotope test on the first of Landis' two urine samples taken after his 17th stage win in last month's Tour indicates the presence of synthetic testosterone, said the official with knowledge of the results from France's Châtenay-Malabry anti-doping laboratory. The UCI said Tuesday that Châtenay-Malabry laboratory has agreed to extend its normal operating

Landis faces questions at a press conference in Madrid last Friday

Leipheimer made his mark on the brutal climb to Sölden in Austria

Gusev defied slick conditions and earned the win

Gusev gets the jersey

Don’t expect any quick resolutions in the Floyd Landis doping case if his counter-analysis comes back as positive. The counter-analysis for the follow-up “B” sample is expected as early as this week, but the entire disciplinary and appeal process could last until late this year, meaning Landis will likely officially retain his Tour de France crown until that process is completed. According to the UCI, the process is well-defined if the 30-year-old returns a positive counter-analysis from samples taken after Stage 17 into Morzine of the Tour de France. Because Landis races with an American

The Union Cycliste Internationale demanded on Monday the “B” sample of Tour de France winner Floyd Landis be tested so that the doping scandal could be resolved sooner rather than later. The 30-year-old American is facing the loss of his title and a two year ban after he returned a positive test for abnormal levels of testosterone following his win in the 17th stage of the Tour earlier this month. However while Landis has protested his innocence the UCI moved on Monday to hasten up the process - by asking the laboratory Châtenay-Malabry to go ahead and test the “B” sample as Landis has

Madrid, Spain (AP) -- Tour de France champion Floyd Landis officially requested the testing of his backup urine sample Monday in an effort to clear his name of doping allegations. "We've sent the fax to the UCI this afternoon," said Jose Maria Buxeda, one of Landis's two Spanish lawyers. "Now we'll have to adjust to their calendar." Landis tested positive for an unusual testosterone/epitestosterone ratio following the 17th stage of the Tour de France, where he made a stunning solo breakaway in the Alps to put himself back into contention for victory after a poor performance the

The team has been cleared but not until after Belda's year had been ruined.

Armstrong and Lagutin wrap up 'Toona titles

Landis faces the press in Madrid

Mass Gallop: Freire takes a close one in Hamburg

The Waseberg was the day's major hurdle.

Gilbert and Wegmann give it a go.

Rebellin on the attack

Hamburg

The usual suspects

Armstrong and Lagutin wrap up 'Toona titles

CNN’s Larry King LiveInterview with Floyd LandisJuly 28, 2006 LARRY KING, CNN HOST: Last Sunday American Floyd Landis won cycling’s biggest race, the Tour de France. He did it after one of the most dramatic comebacks in the history of the event but a doping test which showed an abnormality has cast a major doubt over the victory and today in his first public appearance since the controversy broke, Landis proclaimed his innocence and he joins me now from Madrid. Was all this, Floyd, a shock to you? FLOYD LANDIS, BICYCLIST: Good evening, Larry, and yes, it was a shock as much to me as to

Landis at a Friday press conference in Madrid

Lagutin wins

Mezies is forced to give a hard chase after missing a turn on the route

Tea Time: Armstrong's Lipton squad patrolled the front

Van Gilder gets a stage win

Floyd Landis, fighting a doping scandal that could cost him the Tour de France crown, made his case on US television on Friday and received a vote of confidence from seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong. Landis, appearing on CNN's "Larry King Live" programme from Madrid, reiterated that his positive test for an abnormal testosterone-to-epitestosterone level "was a shock as much to me as anyone else." He said he would do everything he could to clear his name. "I'm going to do my best to defend my dignity and my innocence," said the American who rides for the Swiss-based Phonak

Dublin, Ireland (AP) -- The president of the world governing body for cycling pledged Friday he would wage "a crusade against doping" after Tour de France winner Floyd Landis tested positive for elevated levels of performance-enhancing testosterone. UCI president Pat McQuaid cautioned that while Landis' first urine sample tested suspiciously positive with the substance, "we have to wait for the B sample before we can start the sanctioning process." Nonetheless, McQuaid agreed with a suggestion that the cloud of suspicion over Floyd was the “worst possible outcome” for this year's

Questions of possible use of a banned steroid by Tour de France champion Floyd Landis were raised because of a urine test that spots elevated levels of performance-enhancing testosterone. The test detects both testosterone and a related steroid called epitestosterone, which is not performance-enhancing. Both are produced by the body and are also made in synthetic form. Landis's Phonak team said his urine sample showed "an unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone" when he was tested after his amazing come-from-behind performance in the 17th stage of the race on July 20. The usual

The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.Balance neededEditor,Thanks for printing such a narrow spectrum of self-righteous anti-doping pander in your letters section. If this news about Floyd is true it is not disgusting or offensive as your readers claim, only heartbreaking.Jon GrabenstatterColumbus, OhioWhat next?Editor:Et tu,

Tour de France winner Floyd Landis, facing the loss of his title in a doping scandal, on Friday again insisted he was innocent. The 30-year-old rider said that his positive test for testosterone showed up levels which "are absolutely natural and produced by my own organism". Landis said he was in Madrid to consult with his legal team and added he was willing to undergo whatever tests the sport's authorities asked of him to establish his innocence. "Until such research has been carried out I ask not to be judged and much less to be sentenced by anyone," Landis told a news conference at

A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know.Diane Arbus Doping is sport's photograph; Its dirty secret. And the more we see it, the more we think it tells us, the less we really know. By now you're either enraged, puzzled, mystified, or fed up with the latest installment of the seemingly never-ending saga of doping in cycling and its current poster boy, Floyd Landis. Photographs, illustrations, graphs, and reams of information broadcast and published have attempted to make sense of something that doesn't make sense. The more it tells you, the

Floyd Landis, facing the loss of his Tour de France crown in a doping scandal, won't appear as scheduled Friday on comedian Jay Leno's "Tonight Show," but will appear via satellite on CNN's "Larry King Live." "Tour de France winner Floyd Landis is no longer scheduled to appear on'The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,'" a statement from "Tonight Show" network NBCconfirmed on Friday. In fact, Landis was still in Europe on Friday, giving a press conference in Madrid in which he protested his innocence. Landis tested positive for an abnormally high Testosterone/Epitestosterone

Landis may become the first rider in 102 years to be stripped of the yellow jersey

Landis in yellow

It's been an emotional roller coaster for Landis

Juan Haedo

A day of frantic attacks

Hi-speed 'toona

Pic avoided the crash and took the stage

Speculation and rumors are flying over which name might be behind the positive doping test from the Tour de France after overall winner Floyd Landis pulled out of a pair of lucrative post-Tour criteriums Wednesday and Thursday. Protocol designed to protect the anonymity of involved parties until a second “B” sample can confirm a doping violation hasn’t stopped media around the globe from going into overdrive, many suggesting that the unnamed rider could well be Landis. The UCI revealed Wednesday that the anti-doping laboratory at Châtenay-Malabry in Paris discovered an “adverse analytical

The Phonak Cycling Team confirmed Thursday that Tour de France winner Floyd Landis is the rider who submitted a positive "A" sample following the 17th stage of this year's Tour de France. Landis tested positive for high levels of testosterone during the race, his Phonak team said in a statement issued Thursday. The statement came a day after the UCI, cycling's world governing body, said an unidentified rider had failed a drug test during the Tour. And the statement came just four days after Landis stood on the victory podium on the Champs-Elysees, succeeding seven-time winner

Armstrong's Lipton crew kept a close watch on GC threats

Comunidad Valenciana saw its wild-card bid to start the upcoming Vuelta a España revoked late Thursday by race officials. Citing the team’s alleged links to the ongoing doping investigation in Spain, race officials said the continental team is no longer invited to the season’s final three-week stage race, set for Aug. 26-Sept. 17. The team will not be replaced. Vuelta officials based its decision on tough anti-doping language in the ProTour’s Ethics Code – the same rationale cited by Tour de France officials last month when it left out nine riders from four teams ahead of the start in

The managers of Germany’s ZDF said Thursday the public television network might cease broadcasting the Tour de France in reaction to winner Floyd Landis testing positive for testosterone. "We signed a broadcasting contract for a sporting event, not a show demonstrating the performances of the pharmaceutical industry," ZDF editor-in-chief Nikolaus Brender said. "We are going to think about our future as broadcaster and maybe refuse to broadcast this event." Even before the race started on July 1 it was engulfed in doping controversy, with top German contender Jan Ullrich, his T-Mobile

Last Thursday, after he witnessed the phenomenal solo breakaway by Floyd Landis into Morzine that put the American in position to win the Tour de France, UCI president Pat McQuaid was quivering with excitement. “I followed Landis in the car of [race director] Jean-Marie Leblanc and I’ve never seen anything like it,” McQuaid told VeloNews. “That was cycling at its most beautiful.” One week later, speaking by phone from Sweden, where he had just taken part in a 50km fun ride with former world team time trial champion Erik Petterson and 700 other cycling enthusiasts, McQuaid was in a very

There was universal shock and dismay following news that Tour de France winner Floyd Landis is the rider behind the A sample. Here is a sampling of reactions from key players in the sport: Jonathan Vaughters, ex-pro, CEO of Slipsteam Sports and manager of the TIAA-CREF, to VeloNewsI believe Floyd is innocent. The majority of T/E tests are over-turned at the CAS level. The guy will probably be proven innocent in eight months time, but in the short-term, the media is killing him. Floyd is basically paying for the sins of all the morons who came before him, who have denied, denied, denied. He’s

The Landis family does not appreciate being mobbed. Floyd Landis’s mother left her Farmersville, Pennsylvania house after being swamped by reporters in the wake of the Tour de France winner’s over-the-limit testosterone A sample news. Then, late Thursday night, Floyd Landis held a telephone press conference where he declined to disclose his location. “Not to be elusive, but I have to figure out a way to get home and stay anonymous,” the California resident said from Europe. Landis and his sports agent held the telephone conference to address the testosterone question, and to deny he had

Preliminary indications suggest that at least one rider at the Tour de France did not follow this young woman's advice.

The respective federations of all three podium finishers deny contact from the UCI

Landis on the attack on Stage 17

The break nearly stuck

Health Net chases

Pic gets the stage

Beloki, leaving the Tour last month

Armstrong tears up the road on her own

Pipp takes it in the sprint

Levi Leipheimer will join Discovery Channel next season, the American cycling team confirmed Wednesday. Leipheimer had finished 13th overall and claimed second place in one of the Pyrenees stages of this year's Tour de France with German team Gerolsteiner. "I am very excited about riding for this team," said the winner of the 2006 Dauphiné Libéré. According to a release issued by Specialized, the bike sponsor of Leipheimer’s current team, the American notified the company that he was leaving at the end of the year. "My best results, wins at the Tour of Germany and Dauphiné Libéré,

Frankie Andreu, co-director of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team has been fired, purportedly for missing a trip to Nevada's Tour de Nez in late June. Andreu, who just completed a month-long reporting assignment at the Tour de France for the Outdoor Life Network, said he learned of his dismissal soon after returning to his home in Michigan. “On July 25th, 2006, the day after I returned home from the Tour de France, I was informed that my contract was being terminated by the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team," Andreu said in an e-mailed statement on Wednesday. "I was very surprised and

Anti-doping tests conducted during the recently completed 93rd Tour de France have turned up an “adverse analytical finding,” the UCI confirmed Wednesday. The name of the rider will not be released to the public until further tests are conducted. The rider and their team, national doping and cycling federations as well as the World-Anti Doping Agency have been notified. Under anti-doping rules, a second “B” sample will be tested to confirm the results. If both samples come up positive, the rider will face sanctions for a failed doping test. If the “B” sample comes back negative, no sanction

Friedick (left) and Haedo celebrate their one-two punch

Our latest reader-submitted Photo Gallery is now up for your viewing pleasure. Of course, a new gallery also means the naming of the winner of ourmost recent contest. Take the time to wander through that gallery and see if you agree or disagree with our choice of winner. While bicycles and bicyclists are not the dominant images in Lonnie Shull’s “What a long strange trip it's been,” we kept coming back to it for precisely that reason. Sometimes being on a bike takes you to a place that reminds you of just how small and insignificant you are (and, no, that doesn’t always have to occur

What a long strange trip it's been

Menzies turns the fastest time of the day

Powers is looking forward to the hills

SRAM’s PR and media manager, Michael Zellmann, chillin' before the climb . . .

. . . and suffering up Flagstaff Mountain

The new Force crankset

Cassette and rear derailleur

Rear brake

The front end