Say it ain't so!

Damn, damn, damn...my heart sank when I heard this on NPR this morning.

Hopefully it's a mistake.

Please, please let the B sample be clean.

Christ.

Let all athletes dope up, declare it a level playing field, and put an end to this crap.

that just seems so strange... he knew there would be testing. and he knew that people were already watching him like a hawk for the cortisone earlier in the race. why would he do that?

Beating doping tests is a highly advanced art, and the dopers are streets ahead of the testers. They don't even have tests for some of it, and even the stuff they can test for can be done to a cycle that can avoid detection. The problem is, these are natural substances -- testosterone, red blood cells, etc. -- so they actually have to test for a certain LEVEL, not just the presence of something. It's a doomed effort, really. Cycling is weird because so much of it really is chemistry: how fast and efficiently can the blood process oxygen for extended periods at certain wattage outputs.

The test isn't for testosterone per se. It's for the ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone. In naturally ocurring testosterone spikes the level of epitestosterone also spikes. When the T/E ratio gets above 6, it's proof that the testosterone wasn't made or released by the body.
What's fishy about the press release is that the anti-doping agency didn't say he tested positive. They said that his T/E ratio was *unusually high*. That leads me to believe it was high but not over the limit (e.g. between 5 and 6).
A slightly elevated T/E ratio could result from applying a topical steroidal anti-inflamatory.
I'll wait until I see the nubmers, but testosterone doping makes no sense as a quick fix in cycling. It doesn't assist any of the key metabolic pathways and it doesn't help oxygen transport.

Kinaidos --

I hadn't thought of the topical steroids angle.. good call. That could cause a mildly abnormal ratio. Isn't he on steroids for the hip?

He's approved to be on something for his hip. The news so far is all speculation, no specifics. It is seriously distressing.

The sad thing, Dan, is that so many bicyclists on the tour probably dope up that the playing field IS level with all the dopers.

Seriously, though, this was a shock. What a black eye for cycling if the test holds up.

Though, given the test only revealed high testosterone levels (yes, I know certain drugs increase the levels), he could argue, "Hey, I'm just a whole lotta man!"

Cyclists dope for different reasons (and with different substances) than football and baseball players. Within five years, tops, there will be an almost unlimited supply of new techniques for baseball players that can never be tested for, and thus cannot possibly be controlled. get ready for the superfreaks (though even superfreaks need to learn how to play baseball, which is not primarily a physical ability.

With cyclists, it's not about muscle mass or reflexes or recovery rates or fast-twitch whatever; it's about maximizing the efficiency and speed of body processes, specifically blood oxygen. The gold standard now is EPO, which increases red blood cell count. All racers today monitor their own blood constantly, testing themselves and infusing as necessary to stay just under the legal limit for red blood cells. Detecting the actual substance is difficult, controversial, and, with new technology coming out now (dynepo), soon to become impossible.

Dan's suggestion of free doping is about to become reality, like it or not.

But this isn't a black eye for cycling, as cycling has survived dozens upon dozens of similar or worse blows. The death of Marco Pantani, and a dozen others, of heart failure, for instance. The main audience for the Tour de France, outside the USA, doesn't give a shit about doping; they just assume it.

What's Greg LeMond have to say about this?

First the T/E ratio level was lowered
to 4/1 from the previous 6/1 before that believe was 10/1.
The current threshold is 4:1...

Seoond while pantini probably doped his heart failure was caused while using cocaine (after his career was pretty much over he wasn't cycling)

third there are cases already proven
where athletes had natural ratios over the 6/1 ration and for sure the 4/1 ration even higher...
One was Rutger Beke ironman triathlete was finally cleared I think last year after he had a similar test result..
It requires a series of endocryne(sorry sp?) tests over a period to determine this.
There are other reports of alchohol consumption causing changes in the ration and very hard exercise..

On top of all this Floyds power readings from his power tap on his bicycle were ell within values hes shown in training so his actual power output on that winning stage were not super human or out of line...
Boosting testosterone would not instantly over night give you the popeye affect as if you swallowed a magic can of spinach and suddenly were super strong just doesn't work that way.
There have been instances of using a testosterone patch put on the scrotum for a few hours to enhance recovery but as soon as the patch is removed the levels drop so low probability of that.
And if you've seen amber landis(his wife) A lot of action with the wife night before(especially after some beers and jack daniels he drank and needing to be consoled for his bonk day before..
Who knows but eventually maybe we will find out... I think he will be proven innocent but the damage has been done already and thats a shame.. Thanks to the press....

Osteonecrosis, which affects Landis' hip, is most commonly found in people using steroids.

One out of 2000 Caucasian males has a natural T/E ratio over 6:1. If Landis' natural T/E was high, this would have been evident on his previous (6 I believe) tests on the Tour as well.

I'm sorry, but it doesn't look good for the home team. That doesn't mean he won't be cleared, though....