Landis Still Denies Doping

Tour Winner Says He Can't Explain Positive Drug Test

"I ask first that the case not be treated directly as a doping case," Floyd Landis told a news conference in Madrid on Friday. "Second, I'll undergo all the tests to show that the levels were natural. Until such research is carried out, I ask not to be judged or sentenced." (Denis Doyle - Getty Images)

U.S. cyclist Floyd Landis received supportive telephone calls yesterday from Lance Armstrong and various teammates, lined up interviews with news outlets and vehemently denied using performance-enhancing drugs for a second straight day.

More than two days after having learned he produced an abnormal test for the steroid testosterone that has jeopardized his Tour de France victory and cycling career, Landis said he was "worried about his future" but professed ignorance about the specifics of his test result and drug testing in general.

Landis, who claimed the Tour title on Sunday, said during a conference call with reporters that he knew he had produced a urine sample last Thursday that showed an elevated ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone (more than 4 to 1 is considered high), but knew nothing further about his result and hadn't asked for specifics because he had been too busy dealing with personal matters such as talking to his mother.

"I am not an expert in this," said Landis, 30. "I know the numbers vary from day to day and hour to hour. That's the whole point of this. The tests we are going to construct will prove this is some sort of anomaly."

Christiane Ayotte, the director of the World Anti-Doping Agency-accredited lab in Montreal, disputed Landis's remark, saying her lab had studied T/E ratios in more than 55,000 athletes and found little variation in individuals' results.

"This is not the experience we have," she said. "In my 20 years of experience . . . I have found the T/E value is stable in a given individual. . . . It's not varying by more than 20 to 30 percent from the mean value."

Landis and his personal doctor, Brent Kay of San Diego, said they did not know whether Landis's natural T/E ratio was elevated, which could provide an explanation for the positive result. Kay also expressed outrage at what he called "hysteria" over the situation. The analysis of Landis's sample has not been completed, so even though he has been suspended, he has not been charged with any doping violation.

"It's almost like when we rounded up Japanese Americans and put them in concentration camps during World War II," Kay said. "It's almost like a medieval witch hunt now."

Landis said he was in the process of submitting a request to have the second half of his sample analyzed to ensure that the first was not flawed. He said he expected that analysis to come back with the same abnormality. His team, Phonak Cycling Team, has said it will fire him if the second test confirms the first.

Just one elevated testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio test is not considered proof of a doping positive by WADA. To prove a doping violation, WADA demands that the charging agency examine other samples to ensure that the elevation is not the result of a naturally elevated T/E ratio.

Such follow-up analysis can be avoided if the sample is examined using what is known as the carbon isotope ratio test to distinguish natural from artificial testosterone.

Mario Zorzoli, chief medical officer for the International Cycling Union [UCI], said the French lab that analyzed Landis's sample was known to use the carbon isotope ratio test as part of its standard testing procedure, suggesting it was likely used in this case. The Paris lab director, however, could not be reached for comment.