I’m not a cycling fan, but I do pay attention to the Tour de France every once in a while. So, remember 2 tours ago when the winner, Floyd Landis of the U.S., came under scrutiny because one of his urine samples tested positive for synthetic testosterone? Well, Landis didn’t like being accused of such a thing and swore up and down that he was clean. He even pushed for a hearing with arbitrators to clear his name for good.
The ruling finally came down 2-1 today — in favor of upholding the original results!!
This means that as things stand now, Landis will have to forfeit his ’06 Tour title and will have to serve a two-year ban from the sport (retroactive to the time of the original findings). He can appeal the decision and have one more hearing, but clearly this doesn’t look good for Landis.
Obviously the ruling is a major blow to Landis’ career, but it also delivers a hit to U.S. cycling in general. Lance Armstrong’s wins were notoriously criticized by European cyclists who accused him of doping, even though none of his samples ever came back positive. So now this gives the naysayers more ammunition to whine about American athletes. Great.
It’ll be interesting to see what Landis does next. I’m not familiar enough with his career to hazard a guess as to whether or not he’ll appeal. If he loses again, he could be done with the sport for good. If he accepts the current decision, he could lose a lot of sponsors and be done anyway.