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World cycling chief Pat McQuaid has vowed to conduct a sweeping review of the drug-tainted sport after a series of high-profile doping scandals that have left it in crisis. In an interview to be published Wednesday, McQuaid admitted that doping had been an "an integral part" of professional cycling for decades and that it was time for the sport to confront the scourge. The UCI president said the planned review could produce a major upheaval in professional cycling within two years. McQuaid told the Swiss weekly L'Illustre that the length of races, the number of rest days, the

Vinokourov will take on this weekend's Clásica San Sebastián

Voigt is on a roll

Floyd Landis, whose Tour de France triumph was followed by a positive doping test, ripped UCI and WADA officials over the public release of his "B" sample in an interview with USA Today. The newspaper posted comments Sunday on its website from the embattled U.S. cyclist after Saturday's release of his test results, Landis saying he has been treated unfairly and cannot properly defend himself against doping accusations. Landis tested positive, reportedly for synthetic testosterone, and showed a testosterone/epitestosterone ratio well above the level that triggers suspicion in a test

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.The man is innocent!Dear VeloNews,Floyd Landis will be exonerated of all doping charges! I can only wonderwhy all the information that was "leaked" before any formal announcementswere made about this debacle was all negative.I still haven't heard anything about the results of the six

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. Maybe it’s just the timing, but for some reason, we were drawn to Anthony Kahn’s photo of his seven-year-old son Ellis riding an old road bike on La Toussiure. (For one thing, it’s good that Anthony is teaching the boy to shift like a real man before he graduates to integrated levers.) The shot just seemed to remind us

Chilean downhiller Bernadita Pizarro lies in a coma in Vancouver’s St. Paul’s Hospital after suffering complications during surgery to repair a broken leg. Pizarro, 20, was competing in last month’s Crankworkx Freeride Festival in Whistler, British Columbia, when she lost control during a warm-up on the mountain’s A-Line trail. Pizarro flew over her handlebars and landed on a large pile of rocks, breaking her right femur. According to Michelle Leroux, a spokesman for Whistler-Blackcomb quoted in the Vancouver Sun, safety patrollers set Pizarro’s leg in a splint and took her by ambulance to

A thing worth having is a thing worth cheating for.— W.C. Fields I have an announcement to make. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a Foaming Rant lauding Floyd Landis for beer-drinking his way to a Tour de France-winning comeback. I have subsequently tested positive for wine. White wine. French white wine. No doubt you feel shocked, astonished, perhaps even betrayed. But imagine my dismay when the Ancient and Honorable Brotherhood of Rounders, Roisterers and Rumormongers informed me that both my "A" and "B" samples — taken immediately after my having finished the column and traded it to

Ellis Kahn (7) downtube shifting on La Toussiure

Voigt makes a successful late charge

This beer tastes ... French

Green and gold signs celebrating Floyd Landis' Tour de France victory still hung by a freeway off-ramp and on the gates of the private community in Murrieta, California, where the cyclist holed up Saturday. The festive billboards stood in sharp contrast to the doping scandal that has enveloped Landis, and heated up Saturday when a second test disclosed abnormal testosterone levels, putting his title in jeopardy. "I don't think he's guilty after knowing the guy, who he is, what he's about," said Matt Barringer, the owner of I.E. Bikes in Murrieta, a bedroom community of

Haywood scores a short-track win

USA Cycling has referred Floyd Landis’s case to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the national governing body announced in a press release Saturday. USADA is responsible for opening a formal disciplinary procedure against Landis based on the analysis and subsequent positive result of both the "A" and the "B" samples provided by Landis following Stage 17 of the 2006 Tour de France. USA Cycling said it would have no further comment and would refer all questions on the matter to USADA. "To maintain the same level of sensitivity and respect for both the rights of all athletes and due process as the

The reaction of the French press to the news that Floyd Landis could be stripped of his Tour de France title was muted, especially when compared to the attention the country's media gave to Lance Armstrong. L'Equipe, the biggest and most respected sports newspaper in the country, had a reference to the Landis story on its front page Sunday, with a headline proclaiming "Landis, yellow jersey dethroned." The full story of the American cyclist's positive "B" sample, which confirmed his high level of testosterone, was on page 12 with the headline, "Landis will lose his

Weather made lower altitudes uncomfortable and higher altitudes too dangerous

Leipheimer wins the shortened mountain stage

Bad weather triggered a rider protest and a shortened stage

Pic in the early going

Pic wins

Stewart leads as the rain starts

Health Net chases

With two laps remaining, Stewart drives the break

Milne wins

Cavalier (left) gave the retiring Kirkcaldie no freebies

Buhl and Hill celebrate downhill wins

Reeves is back.

JHK solos for the win

Floyd Landis came one step closer to losing his 2006 Tour de France title when the UCI announced on Saturday that a counter-analysis of an earlier anti-doping control also came back positive. A UCI communiqué* said that analysis of the so-called “B” sample, conducted at France's national anti-doping laboratory at Châtenay-Malabry, confirmed the original “adverse analytical finding” of urine samples taken after Landis’ remarkable Stage 17 victory into Morzine. In keeping with anti-doping procedures, the UCI has formally requested that the USA Cycling open disciplinary action against the

Floyd Landis' parents planted a "God Bless, Went Camping" sign in their front yard Saturday, leaving it to friends and neighbors to defend their son against the doping scandal that threatens his Tour de France title. Tammy Martin, one of the Landis' neighbors and closest friends, said Landis has proven his "outstanding skill" as a cyclist and that he ultimately will be exonerated. "All he has accomplished, he has attained through his hard work and discipline," she said at her home in Farmersville, a rural crossroads just outside the borough of Ephrata in eastern

Oscar Pereiro said he felt like the true Tour de France champion Saturday, after confirmation of a drug test for Floyd Landis that is expected to see the American stripped of the title. Pereiro said the fact that he now stands to win the title by default after Landis will likely lose the title for doping, would not diminish his achievement. "Right now I feel like the winner of the Tour de France," Pereiro said at a press conference in Vigo, Spain. The comments are a shift from Pereiro's initial response, when he said he would be reluctant to accept the yellow jersey after a

Landis's Stage 17 attack ranks among the most decisive in Tour history. Will it remain so once the hearings are over?

Landis heads to the doping control trailer after his stunning win in Morzine.

Brown exults

Pereiro may end up with the jersey after all

Hi, honey, I'm home

And now, while we wait for our feature presentation, a couple of selected shorts

Former T-Mobile rider Jan Ullrich was supplied with a potent cocktail of performance-enhancing drugs by the Spanish doctor accused of running a doping ring that has left the sport in crisis, it was reported here. Former Olympic champion Ullrich, who was barred from competing in this year's Tour de France after being implicated in the scandal, was given EPO, steroids and human growth hormone by Madrid physician Eufemiano Fuentes. The allegations were made by anti-doping campaigner Werner Franke in an interview to be published in Saturday's Hamburg Morning Post. "I've seen a

Cancellara wins in Denmark

Voight wins in Germany

Big Effort: Ciolek's win wasn't an easy one

The great German hope: At 19 Ciolek certainly has some good years ahead.

The happy couple

Minnaar

San Diego computer entrepreneur Michael Robertson on Thursday offered Tourde France winner Floyd Landis $100,000 to "clear the air" and take a polygraphexamination while addressing charges that he doped on his way to victoryin the Tour.Robertson, who made his fortune off of investments in a host of softwarecompanies - including a Linux-based operating system called "Linspire"and and VOIP system know as SIPphone - is also a former collegiate cyclistand fan of the professional peloton. Robertson sent a fax addressed toLandis on Thursday offering to test the cyclist using a set of

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

Dear Bob,I live in the Minneapolis, Minnesota metro area. The city of Minneapolis has had for several years a 10mph speed limit on city trails. In some areas this limit does make sense such as around the chain of inner city lakes where the density of people, skaters and bikes is very high. Being that we can and do ride the adjacent roads and have no problem with traffic, it is not a big deal. By law in Minnesota a bike is classified as a vehicle and must obey the traffic laws when on the road. So far so good, we have state wide residential speed limit of 30mph. So as a cyclist we have a nice

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.It was good, but it was believableDear Editor,Never having the occasion of doping with anything other than caffeineand ephedrine I cannot actually attest to what it might feel like to supplementtestosterone. (I reckon it works good however).But having twenty years in the "game" I do

La Gazzetta dello Sport for Thursday, August 3, 2006

ProTour leader Valverde crashed out of the third stage Tour.

Voigt wins one at home

Sastre finishes Tour de France stage 17 in Morzine

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

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

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

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.

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

Armstrong and Lagutin wrap up 'Toona titles

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

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