Floyd Floyd and Floyd

Landis Results Due This Week
Gary Klein, From LA Times Staff and Wire Reports
August 2, 2006

Tour de France champion Floyd Landis, whose initial doping tests turned up positive, gets another chance to clear his name when a second set is expected to be released Saturday.

However, the 30-year-old cyclist and his lawyer have previously acknowledged that they expect the "B" sample to show the same elevated ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone found in the "A" sample last week.

Michael Henson, a spokesman for the cyclist, confirmed Tuesday that a urine test on Landis after the tour's 17th stage turned up an 11:1 ratio — far above the 4:1 limit allowed. A 1:1 ratio is average.

The "A" sample was provided July 20 by the cyclist after he raced his way back into contention by winning a tough Alpine leg with a ride that will long be remembered by race fans.

Landis has insisted that his body's natural metabolism — not doping — caused the elevated result, and said he would undergo further tests to prove it.

But a New York Times report cast doubt on that defense. The newspaper cited a source from the UCI, cycling's international federation, saying that a second analysis of the "A" sample, called a carbon isotope ratio test, had detected synthetic testosterone in Landis' system.