August 06, 2006

Landis Taking Testosterone Doesn't Make Sense

Floyd Landis' publicized urine tests are very damaging. It will be hard enough for him and his experts to explain why his body had such a large ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone. It will be harder to explain why tests showed some of the testosterone wasn't made by Landis' body.

What has me scratching my head is why the ratio was too high after his legendary/infamous stage climb in the Alps that brought Landis back into Tour de France contention. I've read nothing that taking in testosterone before a race would benefit a cyclist. If he wanted a boost he should have taken amphetamines yet he didn't test positive for them. Testosterone is used over weeks and months to build up muscle. We haven't heard Landis testing positive after previous stages.

Here are a couple possibilities:

• After falling apart on stage 16 he figured his chance at winning the race was finished. So he started his doping program early. But then he won the stage the next day and got back into contention. At that point he had to be crossing his fingers hoping he'd avoid any positive tests.

• Landis is dumb. Maybe one of his teammates or coaches told him a testosterone injection or patch would give him a boost the next day. Phonak has a history of riders doping. However, Landis has been studying his body for years looking at how best to deal with his injured hip. It seems unlikely he'd take someone's word without looking into it.

• Conspiracy. Maybe French cycle officials have had enough of Americans winning their race. After Landis' amazing stage 17 someone wanted to take him and American cycling down a notch and tampered with his urine samples.

I'm an Occam's Razor guy so I usually avoid conspiracy theories. So I have to go with the notion Landis cheated. I just can't figure out why when what the evidence we has says wouldn't help him.