Floyd Tests Positive – Again

So that’s it, the B-sample tested positive for testosterone as well… If you’ve been following the latest Tour de France scandal (doesn’t this race sometimes seem like a soap opera?) you’ll know that winner Floyd Landis tested positive following his astounding climb on July 20 in the Alps.

Floyd, you’ve let us down. I was rooting for you, and so was my son, who saw in you the successor of Lance Armstrong. After you won, he went and fetched a notebook where he had obtained a bunch of autographs from riders in the Dauphiné Libéré, a multi-day race that is run in the Alps area near our home. He has Lance Armstrong’s autograph from the 2005 race, and saw that he had Floyd’s as well. He was very proud. (He also noticed the many autographs of riders who had been disqualified before the Tour…)

Floyd, what happened? Somehow, I don’t think you’re stupid enough to have taken something that is so easy to detect. Also, from what I’ve read, testosterone doesn’t have an immediate effect, so it’s not likely that, if you did take it (I’m still giving you the benefit of the doubt), you didn’t do so on the 19th. But why would you test positive if you didn’t take it? And why do the labs show that there is artificial testosterone–again, relatively easy to find–in your urine?With years of doping scandals in the Tour, I’m starting to get annoyed. Can any racer win this grueling race–3 weeks and more than 3,600 kilometers–without assistance? After all, they are allowed to take plenty of things, from vitamins and minerals to special “energy bars” containing concentrated sugars. Is the problem with the race itself, or with 3-week cycling races in general? (There have been similar doping scandals at the Vuelta (the Tour of Spain) and the Giro (the Tour of Italy).

Of course, this is not the only sport tainted by doping. Sprinter Justin Gatlin just got busted as well. (Alas, another of my son’s favorites…) Not to mention baseball, football, hockey, tennis, and, well, every sport in the world. Is it that hard to be honest? Or is there too much money involved?

One thing I want to see in the future is the teams taking responsibility for their athletes. Why isn’t the Phonak team–or at least its managers and doctors–being criticized for not surveying Floyd Landis correctly? After all, they could test their riders; it would cost them a bit of money, but, in a way, it’s something they really should do, both for the good of their team, and for the integrity of their sponsor, who certainly doesn’t like having this scandal associated with their name.

Whatever happens, whether Floyd is somehow exonerated or not, the damage is done. At the beginning of this year’s Tour, several of the best riders were excluded because of a doping scandal in Spain (without any concrete proof, I should add, not being considered innocent until proven guilty). Fans are getting fed up, and apparently TV viewers are changing the channel, even here in Europe where the Tour is a Big Sporting Event. If this sport doesn’t get its act together, it will go the way of professional wrestling–entertaining, but not taken seriously. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen; the Tour de France is too beautiful a race to die in a whimper.