Sunday, August 6, 2006

The second urine sample provided by the winner of this year’s Tour de France, American cyclist Floyd Landis, has tested positive for excessive levels of testosterone. This confirms the results of the earlier test done after his victory in the Tour de France on 20 July.

The International Cycling Union said: “The UCI communicates that the analysis of the sample B of Floyd Landis’s urine has confirmed the result of an adverse analytical finding notified by the anti-doping laboratory of Paris on July 26, following the analysis of the sample A.”. Landis now faces the prospect of being stripped of his title, along with the possibility of a two year ban.

He also stands to lose $575,700 in prize money. This would be the first time a winner has been disqualified for doping in the Tour’s history.

The American has refuted the charges saying his body naturally produces high levels of testosterone.

In its comment about Landis sample analyses, the USA Cycling announced that it will “refer this case to the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) as the organization solely responsible for the adjudication of anti-doping cases involving American athletes in the Olympic movement“

The Phonak team fired Landis on Saturday for “violating the teams internal Code of Ethics”, a statement released by the team said.

Oscar Pereiro Sio who finished second, 57 seconds adrift, now claims himself the true Tour de France champion after hearing about Landis’ result. [1]

Since 1984 testosterone use is forbidden, but difficult to test for because the body produces it naturally. A test involves measuring the testosterone/epitestosterone (T/E) ratio. An average caucasian has a 1:1 ratio but it is tolerated up to 4:1 (ratio was 6:1 or even 10:1 in the past). A new test using a spectrometer and carbon 13 ratio (CIR) exists. This new test gives a more accurate result for the presence of synthetic testosterone. This test was used on Floyd’s samples in order to confirm synthetic testosterone in his blood.