Riders Ready?

In a matter of hours, the long-awaited hearings into whether Floyd Landis doped at last year’s Tour de France will begin. And after months of no public commentary by USADA on what evidence they have, and what they believe it shows, the anti-doping agency will have to begin laying out their cards for all to see.

It won’t happen all at once, of course, but over a period of ten days, running from today until May 23rd, with just one day off on Sunday, May 20th. If needed, however, the hearings could also be held then, too.

For months, we’ve seen and heard the Wiki defense put on by Team Landis. Although many believe that it contains the sum total of Landis’ arguments against LNDD’s interpretation of the data, and of what happened, Arnie Baker told me in March that only four of about 60 specific arguments against the lab’s findings have been made public. So from the Landis side, we can expect to see cards they haven’t played yet, either.

We will get to find out whether the labeling issues pointed out in Landis’ lab documentation package exist only on paper, or whether, as one online publication speculated, other more serious labeling errors occurred.

We will get to find out whether a true Landaluce-like error occurred at the lab, where the same person was significantly involved in the B sample testing, despite rules and standards against the person being involved.

The hearings will no doubt be very technical, with perhaps an occasional bombshell revelation coming from one or both sides. Or there may be no bombshells at all, but I rather doubt that would be the case.

Given the public viewing and discussion of the case, due to Landis putting the entire lab package out for all to see, perhaps all of the real arguments have been teased out of the material already. What Arnie Baker told me in March leads me to believe that that’s not the case. And the developments since then, with the B samples tested at LNDD in April and the revelation that the original data from Stage 17 had been erased from the lab equipment’s hard drive, leads me to believe that there are some surprises in store for us.

One possible surprise, alluded to over the weekend in a Wall Street Journal article, is this:

The new evidence is expected to include testimony from an expert who contends that the French lab that tested [Landis’] urine failed to set up the testing machine correctly. It also includes an independent computer analysis of data from the urine test. The Landis team will argue the analysis suggests tampering or a false positive.

What arguments will USADA make in their effort to prove that Landis doped? What are the other arguments that Team Landis has been holding back for the hearing, so as not to tip off the other side? Will the arbitrators be impartial in hearing the case? Or did the ruling by Brunet and McLaren, in which they froze out Chris Campbell, be an indication that a majority exists that has already decided the outcome of the case? Will Floyd Landis get a fair hearing and will real justice be done? Over the next ten days, we’ll find out.

In about two hours time, opening statements will begin. USADA will lead off, followed by Team Landis. As the hearings go on, we can expect some high points where things appear to be going well for Floyd Landis, and we can expect some low points, where USADA may have the upper hand. And when the hearings are all said and done, we probably won’t know the outcome for at least a month. At 9:30 a.m. Pacific Time on the campus of Pepperdine University, the roller coaster ride really begins.