Landis Tests Positive for Doping, Team Says
The Associated Press
Thursday, July 27, 2006; 10:16 AM
  American Floyd Landis, center, still wearing the Tour de France cycling race's overall leader's yellow jersey, and Danish Michael Rasmussen, far left, in the best climbers' dotted jersey, talk to the media in Stiphout, the Netherlands, Tuesday, July 25, 2006. Landis, who took part in Tuesday's race, failed to show up for a one day race in Denmark on Thursday July 27, 2006 a day after missing a scheduled event in the Netherlands. (AP Photo/Ton van de Meulenhof) (Ton Van De Meulenhof - AP) TOUR DE FRANCE Floyd Landis's second drug test confirms inappropriate levels of testosterone, setting him up to become the first Tour de France champion to be stripped of his title for doping.
Essay: Driven to win, Landis may lose it all.
If Landis is stripped of the title, runner-up Oscar Pereiro is the likely new winner.
Former riders and cycling fans react to the news about Landis.
QUOTE SHEET"I have never taken any banned substance, including testosterone. I was the strongest man at the Tour de France, and that is why I am the champion." -- Landis, in a statement.
"It goes without saying that for us Floyd Landis is no longer the winner of the 2006 Tour de France." -- Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme.
"Now I consider myself the winner." -- Spanish cyclist Oscar Pereiro, who likely will be named the Tour winner if Landis is stripped of the title.
"God Bless, Went Camping." -- Sign posted in the front yard of Landis' parents, Paul and Arlene, in Farmersville, Pa.
"It'll cause the folks trying to explain this to have to shift their ground from it being due to natural causes or beer or Jack Daniels. There's the usual parade of explanations. I think probably they wish they hadn't made some of them." -- Dick Pound, chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency.
"Obviously, the credibility has been tested for many years. Cycling does have the most stringent testing, it's still not enough for me. There's a code of silence that needs to change. There's a change in Europe with UCI in a positive way. Unfortunately, it took something of this stature to wake people up, with the Tour winner to lose the title." -- Greg LeMond, three-time Tour winner.
"One of the most critical issues facing sport at every level is the issue of doping. Our position on this is unequivocal: If you dope, you are absolutely not welcome on the United States Olympic Team." -- Darryl Seibel, U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman.
"It's awful. It's ugly. It harms the Tour de France and sports in general. In any event, it's all just a circus, and the circus will carry on." -- Jean-Louis Cailhol of Nancy, France.
PHOTOS Photos: Check out the scenes from the start of the race in Strasbourg to the finish line in Paris.
ON OUR SITEFLASHBACK Lance Armstrong wins his seventh consecutive Tour de France and bids goodbye to competitive cycling.
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LONDON (AP) -- Tour de France champion Floyd Landis tested positive for high levels of testosterone during the race, his Phonak team said Thursday on its Web site.
The statement came a day after cycling's world governing body said an unidentified rider had failed a drug test during the Tour.