When the prologue for the Tour of California starts in a few hours, the one person who ought to be there won’t be starting. Floyd Landis, whose remarkable 2006 season began with his overall victory in the inaugural Tour of California won’t be starting the race.
It’s not that he wouldn’t like to do the race, it’s that he can’t. Landis must sit out of competition until his anti-doping case is heard. Currently, his case is scheduled to go before an arbitration panel on May 14. And until the decision of the arbitration panel is announced, Landis is barred from racing — either in the United States or on foreign soil.
And even if he were allowed to race, Landis has no team. His previous team, Phonak, disbanded at the end of the 2006 racing season. Be that as it may, Phonak fired Landis after his B sample results from his urine sample taken after Stage 17 of the 2006 Tour de France were announced in early August of last year. The findings allege that Landis used synthetic testosterone. Landis denies the charges. But while the case drags on, no team will hire him, either.
In the intervening six months, much has happened and little has happened. Landis took the unusual step of placing all of the test data which he has received from LNDD, France’s anti-doping lab, on the Internet for all to see. An arbitration panel was selected. Legal jockeying on both sides has occurred. A foundation has been set up to raise money to assist in his defense.
On the Landis side, they seek to gain access to all of his other test results from the Tour. The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has denied those requests, but at the same time has sought to test Landis’ remaining B samples from all of his other tests at the Tour. Who’s to blame for the delays in his case? Well, it depends on which side you’re on.
If you support Floyd Landis, then USADA is to blame. USADA, however, claims that defense lawyers seeking extraneous documentation are to blame for such delays. Given the revelations about USADA seeking to test the B samples, some of the delays clearly are the responsibility of the anti-doping agency, itself. How much is hard to gauge, as not all the behind-the-scenes maneuvering and who is doing the maneuvering is known.
What can be said, regardless of which side you’re on, is that this case should have and could have moved much quicker than it has. And while the case might not have been fully resolved by now, it should be much further along than it is.
If Landis is innocent, as he claims, he is being done irreparable harm by being forced to sit out racing. He is unable to practice his profession, his reputation continues to be harmed and his finances take a harder hit for every day this process drags on. If he is found guilty, however, it’s best to just get it over with and move on.
No one benefits from these delays, not Floyd Landis, not the anti-doping agencies and not professional cycling. The longer this drags out, the more everyone gets dragged through the mud.
Landis will be making appearances in some of the towns the Tour of California passes through. So in that sense, he will be a presence during the next week. But his presence should be on the bike, not at fund-raising events or informational events to promote his new hip.
It’s a tough choice as to who to root for in this edition of the Tour of California. I know who I’d rather root for: The Missing Man. But, alas, he’s not there.
I’ll still be rooting for “the Missing Man”! And I’ll bet there will be a crowd wherever he is! It sucks that he won’t be on a bike, but I hope he raises lots of money!!
Of course USADA is to blame to the elongation of this trial by the press. I am as sick of this as I am of reports about of Brittany Spears without panties or hair, or Anna-Nicole’s love triangles, and quartets, quintets, etc.: it is all just the same crap.
USADA had the opportunity to put this tribunal together last month, this month, next month, etc. but they have deliberately chosen to drag it out. I HAVE NO DOUBT that if this was a slam dunk, got-you-red-handed case like Pound, WADA and the UCI claim, that USADA would have gotten rid of this fould stench by now.
But instead of Floyd stinking the sport up, the data itself stinks and does not support the conclusions of cheating (and USADA knows this, hence the B sample witch hunt).
USADA must be under huge pressure by UCI and WADA to knock Floyd into the gulag, yet, maybe, somewhere in USADA, there is someone with ethics not willing to steam roll Landis into cheating oblivion.
Floyd has, and will continue to be, the huge victim of this mess, and we, the enthusiasts, are the poorer for not getting to watch this talent perform.
Now that T of C has started, and Floyd isn’t there, it’s like the week after the Tour all over again. He should be racing as last year’s winner, not having to plead his case in a traveling show.
If I remember correctly, the new law firm he hired specializes in recovering funds lost and countersuing for damage to his reputation, etc. I wonder if any amount of money recovered could even come close?