Landis Without a Team
by Sui Juris on Nov 17, 2009 3:17 PM EST
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Aye, how far he has fallen. Landis and his team (OUCH p/b Maxxis) have parted ways:
Momentum Sports Group (MSG) and Floyd Landis have mutually agreed to terminate Landis' Rider Agreement and thereby release both Landis and MSG from their respective obligations under the Rider Agreement for the remainder of the 2009 and 2010 racing seasons.
Landis returned from a well-documented serious hip injury and subsequent hip resurfacing procedure to assist MSG's professional cycling team in winning the Nature Valley Grand Prix, The Tour of Elk Grove and the Joe Martin Stage Races during the 2009 racing season. For the 2010 season, Landis expressed to MSG that he desires to ride the longer, tougher stage races offered in Europe and internationally that better suit his strengths. Accordingly, given that MSG will be focusing its 2010 racing season primarily in the United States, MSG and Landis mutually agreed that it would be best for both parties to part ways at this time and allow Landis to seek a position with a team that could better accommodate his desires.
Does this mean the regularly rumoured move to Rock Racing is going to happen? Does anyone care?
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How many times
can they use the “returned from a well-documented serious hip injury” schtick without looking completely ridiculous?
Clearly this is a French conspiracy to stop him returning to the Tour de France.
Either that he’s about to be announced as the latest new signing by Team The Shack.
Or Team GB Reach For The Sky+HD Box Off Switch should Garmin refuse to release Wiggo.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
RadioShack Team Will Make Debut in Australia
Former U.S. Postal teammate Floyd Landis may be invited to race for the new team, Armstrong said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aDOlICHp2bpI
rofl
That’s quite funny. So, I suppose it’s all just blood down the sink now.
Gah, what a odd reunion that one would/will be.
"it’s all just blood down the sink now"
Ouch!
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
lol
Bygones.
Wasn’t it blood down the toilet, though?
by Susie Hartigan on Nov 17, 2009 9:47 PM EST up reply actions
How ironic then that Flandis should follow the boosted blood and flush his entire career down the U-bend of life.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
Hmmm. I bet Rock doesn’t have a “no alcohol during stage races” rule. I remember reading in a VN mag article about Floyd that OUCH had to implement such a rule this year.
Are we talking about on the road
or in the hotel room afterwards?
"better suit his strengths"
and what might they actually be?
good question...
"well...you live in england so: you love the rain. loves the queen. hates cycling. based on mr bean had a tremendous amount of humour. all ride in a mini cooper. all getting drunk before the age of 12. getting drunk at least 3 times a day."- frinking, 7/9/09
Landis
I generally like Floyd as he seems to be a working class kind of guy, but I wonder about his ability to be competitive in Europe. He didn’t seem to have much success this year. Am I missing something? Why would he be competitive in Europe when he was less than dominant in the US?
I think it was just a nice way
to end things for everyone. He’s had a pretty miserable set of results since returning, and there doesn’t seem to be anything to hang your hopes on, if you’re a fan. Even as a former fan, I still find that kinda sad.
Yep
I don’t know if his heart was in it. Maybe the hip was an issue. But regardless of guilt, I imagine it’d be hard to stay hopeful enough to come back at his age, in the NRC circuit, to stay on top of his training. He sounds generally angry, and I don’t think that’s good for your training focus.
BTW, only on a slow news day is this FP material. Also Sui takes nice pictures. Gavia is indisposed today, I am told (cue major Italian story in 3…2…)
"Harder! Better! Faster! Stronger!" Philippe Gilbert
by Chris Fontecchio on Nov 17, 2009 6:52 PM EST up reply actions
angry is right
in last months procycling, he went off on one (or at least that’s how they wrote it) the headline on the page was something like ‘any more doping questions and i’m out’, or words to those effect. i can’t imagine why, after what the sport did to him (and he to the sport), he’d want to go back to the european circuit.
"well...you live in england so: you love the rain. loves the queen. hates cycling. based on mr bean had a tremendous amount of humour. all ride in a mini cooper. all getting drunk before the age of 12. getting drunk at least 3 times a day."- frinking, 7/9/09
Seems like HWMNBM has been pretty successful with that type of response to doping questions. Just sayin’…
"Think globally, bike locally."
true true
but lance is lance. he likes the criticism, it justifies the way he behaves. landis just can’t take it like lance can.
"well...you live in england so: you love the rain. loves the queen. hates cycling. based on mr bean had a tremendous amount of humour. all ride in a mini cooper. all getting drunk before the age of 12. getting drunk at least 3 times a day."- frinking, 7/9/09
sorta
Blackballed he (and all of us) could reasonably expect. But – in the first few years, at least – you’d expect some internal “fuck ’em all” incentive to train and show results. So far? Nada. Personally, I think I can understand. But it’s not for any reasons that one can commercially present as understandable. No, at this point, I think it’s pretty much lost. Sad, but true.
Bah . . .
Part of me wants to feel sorry for Landis: he’s been steam-rolled by multiple folks and had to participate in horrors.
But . . . the LeMond business . . . and much of how he handled his defense makes me think “Tonya Harding” . . .
Then . . . I don’t know the behind-the-scenes deal behind OUCH: was this McKay trying to give Landis a set-up to get back into the sport, was it a way for McKay to collect on unpaid bills related to therapy for the hip-replacement, a little of both? I have no idea. I do know that it was an opportunity for Landis—and that for whatever reason, he wasn’t able to grasp it.
There’s a limit to human resiliency.
Blackballed?
Where’s the proof? Several U.S. teams have been bidding for his services.
by Chief Commissaire on Nov 20, 2009 6:19 PM EST up reply actions
Is Floyd really flying the OUCH coop to partner with the Chicken?
"As you can imagine, there are better places to have your birthday party than in some village called Mushny Mush Mishme." --The Wisdom of Jens
Ouch indeed
I often ride parts of the route of his miracle day …. (and his day before) ….
I remember the Joux Plane stage as one of the most exciting, awe inspiring rides ever.
It’s sad … really sad
Moo
No Surprise Here
He’s obviously headed to Rock Racing. They’re pro continental for 2010 (same as BMC) which means the ability to race more in Europe than they did this year.
by Chief Commissaire on Nov 17, 2009 7:42 PM EST reply actions
I will not even start
the conversation on how he got there.
Your bike doesn't want to crash so relax and let it roll!!!
He got there the exact same way a lot of people got there
Some of them multiple times. The main difference is that he got caught. And after he got caught, he acted like a douchebag during his trial and burned up what little good will he had managed to hang on to with some fans. I hope the guy pulls it together and gives us a good show in the future, but I am not hopeful.
OK
So he is a guy like many others, only more stupid.
I will upgrade my comment to “I couldn’t care less” (hey seahorse, is that less caring than “who cares” ? Can I use another expression to care even less?)
Sorry but I can’t feel sorry for dopers. It is just the way I feel.
Your bike doesn't want to crash so relax and let it roll!!!
Yes. Using 'I' strengthens it,
but in Oz we’d be a little more graphic for emphasis: ‘Who gives a rat’s arse?’ often shortened to ‘Who gives a rat’s?’ is a particular favourite. The vulgarity strengthens it. ;)
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
exactly
his 15 minutes of infamy are over.
by Susie Hartigan on Nov 17, 2009 9:10 PM EST up reply actions
dunno
Same way that Lance got his, as far as I’m concerned.
To be clear, I’m not a Floyd fanboy. But I don’t think he deserves any more shit than Armstrong/Basso/Valverde/etc.
Found this the other day
A presentation summarizing LA’s doping history. An interesting read. See if you can guess what the author’s opinion is on the topic…
So what you are saying is
that my link and Ted’s link are the same thing? I can’t tell because Ted’s link won’t work for me. It just hangs… So, in short, STFU, D
agreed
and if one of those three suddenly pitched up before a new season without a team, it’d be news, and worthy of a debate.
"well...you live in england so: you love the rain. loves the queen. hates cycling. based on mr bean had a tremendous amount of humour. all ride in a mini cooper. all getting drunk before the age of 12. getting drunk at least 3 times a day."- frinking, 7/9/09
For some reason I still have the feeling that he could get better results in Europe...
than in the U.S. just because it is totally different race wise and a “hilly stage race” in the U.S. is not exactly hilly in Europe. except for Tour of Utah which is still on the borderline, there are no races in the U.S. that come close to the back-to-back-back etc. climbing efforts that are required in Euro stage races. In Cali, he was 23rd overall which is nothing notable really but for not racing for 3 years it is decent. When he was on Mercury, he never tore up the national level racing circuit or anything and what got him on U.S. Postal was Euro results. He isn’t the type of rider to be riding Nature Valley and Cascade for “big stage races”. Those are suited to guys that can ride a crit and can climb decently.
I have a little sliver of hope but if he fails at this, I won’t be crushed. Rock Racing does have a lot better riders though for what it is worth which could boost morale for him watching Sevilla and co.
hmm...
Maybe California was his first race back. I would still expect him to be more competitive in races such as Utah, Missouri, US Pro, or even Cascade. When he was winning races in Europe, he time trial ability was excellent. If he is back to that form, I would think he would do well in domestic TTs.
I don’t wish anything bad on Floyd and I am not trying to put him down. I would think there has to be a race somewhere in the US that would show his talent to win in Europe. I can’t point to anything I remember from his results this year, but maybe someone else can. Sure Euro races are different, but if he gets dropped on climbs in Utah or can’t finish highly in a US TT in Missouri, I wouldn’t think he would do better on a different continent.
I think many of you are selectively forgetting that . . .
. . . . the guy stopped training for a few years and then got his hip replaced.
Just what were you all expecting from him this year?
Personally, I’m glad his year was 100% meh, because anyting else would raise some serious red flags for me on his blood purity.
I really think he can come back to be very good at support for a team with a clear focus and a captain which can take some of the public focus away of him.
Sadly, I’ve always felt Floyd was best suited for the one day monuments given his MTB background, and maybe he might look into those while being a gregario in tours.
I’m with V90.
I’ve got a sliver of hope.
Ryan, you've got the sequence wrong
He got his hip replaced, did the re-hab, fought the suspension, THEN stopped training.
If this is going to turn into a vote...
put me down for “I don’t care” or “There is no hope for him”.
I do feel sorry for the guy, I hope he has the strength to move on.
No horn, watch for finger.
+1 for CGAS.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
Hes probably going to The Shack
that rumor had been mentioned in the past, seems likely, and i like the move. I believe Landis’s experience will be helpful to the team.
What has he done to justifie that?!?!
I thin it was Jimbo’s fanshot..
What do you fear most?
1. coup d’etat
2. putsch
It's a Fringlish sort of day...
Rumour is nearly three months old, but it’s something upon which to speculate. I’m with R Mc… ’there’s a limit to human resilience’…
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
totally agree
I know they’ve been taking on a fair few experienced riders, shall we say, but I doubt very much The Shack’s entirely a charity organization. There’s also way too much baggage. Rock Racing here he comes, I reckon. Either that or early retirement.
I have to admit
Landis to the Shack was the first thing I thought.
A friend of mine says that Armstrong would never take on such baggage but I disagree. I think Armstrong would love to have something on Landis… like, I saved your career, so you owe me. When you got the JUICE, you’re the man!
What, & spend every interview (assuming he does any, that is) having to answer questions about that?
Too big a distraction, I’d’ve thought.
No more distracting than answering questions about Contador all season...
by Douglas Ansel on Nov 18, 2009 10:08 AM EST up reply actions
Lance might talk about it....
Just to piss off the likes of Paul Kimmage. And I think he’d take Landis onto the Shack if he thought Landis had some value. But I just don’t see that Landis has any value.
I hope he gets a team
I think this whole season was poor due to a lack of interest and going through the motions. Maybe he owed to McKay to help promote him or maybe he just needed a paycheck, but he clearly wasn’t racing because he wanted the feeling of winning bike races and having fun. I saw him race once or twice this season and if he had been out drinking the night before then his performances were stellar!
I am not making excuses for him. I just think when your motivation is in the tank, regardless of how well you train, your results suck. Utah is a hard race and if your have slouched about the whole season and aren’t focused then of course you are going to get dropped. I doubt he was focused on it or trying all that hard. He just wanted to wrap up the year and try to get on another team.
Thank you for returning to my life cross season!
by australopithecine on Nov 18, 2009 1:36 PM EST reply actions
Disagree about lack of performance related to lack of interest.
Dude is riding for a continental team, if he wants to move back up into the big league he has to perform at some point in the season to say: “Here I am boys”.
No horn, watch for finger.
Not really...He never performed that highly on the continental circuit in the U.S. because more than half the time they are riding crits
he did resonably well in Cali after 3 years of doing nothing but a few mountain bike races. I also remember that he started training for 2009 in October 2008, riding like 30+ hours a week and was peaking in January at team camp where his teammates said that he was ripping there legs off on the dirt climbs above San Diego and was on form. Then he was just overtrained after that point and he never really took a break from racing so he never was able to build up form after that because he was overtrained from all of the stuff his did before Cali.
True he could have done something in Utah but other than that race, there are no other races that compare to something you find in Europe. Most other races suit rouleurs like Rory sutherland, Tom Zirbel, and the like. He might have been able to do something in a crit but what is that going to show in a 6 hour race. He did finish in the front group at Philly which was a 6.5 hour race and shows that he can still be in there but since he can’t sprint at all he was not going to get top 10.
by Vlaanderen90 on Nov 18, 2009 3:04 PM EST up reply actions
Eh...
He’s pro. No excuse for “lack of interest.” If that’s really why he has no results, that’s lame and totally unpro on his part. The way to get on another team is to get results and earn a spot. No sympa for that kind of thing.
I am with you
I wasn’t defending him, just offering an explanation for shit results when he is clearly talented. Everyone mails it in on occasion.
Thank you for returning to my life cross season!
by australopithecine on Nov 19, 2009 2:35 PM EST up reply actions
I don't know about the Mr. January thing.
Seems way too rookie-ish for a guy like Floyd to rip guys legs off in January only to find himself spent come his first race of the season. Sounds more like what you experience around town, guys dropping you left and right during the winter only to get dropped themselves when you start racing.
No horn, watch for finger.
I don't think I've seen another rider more emotionally affected by his suspension.
His whole personality changed.
I think Landis actually thinks he is innocent and was devastated by the turn of events. Makes sense. A rider wins the biggest race in the world, the race of his dreams and then the world crashes in around him.
I bet he comes back to form if someone gives him a shot.
( I’m guessing he is thinking Testosterone is much closer to Cortisone than it is to CERA. ???? )
I waited a half an hour to give my two toddlers breakfast until I had my Eneco tour coverage sorted, then made sure I got them fed before the sprint. --- Bought With Blood. ..... Hmmm, my kinda people. If only they could explain to my wife why my bike belongs in the house and not the garage. --- Thevaro
I still believe he's innocent
He got screwed.
And now he drinks too much.
I would too.
If you followed the testimony on TBF, you would know he got screwed.
Let’s hope he gets it together, dude’s been through a lot.
He didn’t dope.
And he got f*cked.
Even cheaters can be screwed
Even so, fucktard Landis screwed it all up for himself when he and his manager started calling Lemond. Assholes.
And why o why would anybody screw him?!?!!?!?!?
The ASO office 2007.
“Holy smoke! I never seen this! He is attacking the whole day non-stop! Let’s screw him so we don’t have this unhuman prestation in the historiebook and than, the best part!, an anonymous Spanish guy, who gained half an hour in an attack can win the Tour! That would be soooooo good for the Tour..”
Some other guy
“Hehe I love it when a cunning plan comes together”
What do you fear most?
1. coup d’etat
2. putsch
well played
"well...you live in england so: you love the rain. loves the queen. hates cycling. based on mr bean had a tremendous amount of humour. all ride in a mini cooper. all getting drunk before the age of 12. getting drunk at least 3 times a day."- frinking, 7/9/09
Frinking Logic
You can’t beat it.
I waited a half an hour to give my two toddlers breakfast until I had my Eneco tour coverage sorted, then made sure I got them fed before the sprint. --- Bought With Blood. ..... Hmmm, my kinda people. If only they could explain to my wife why my bike belongs in the house and not the garage. --- Thevaro
Maybe a different argument
I don’t think the argument (at least as far as I have heard) is that it was a conspiracy that he got screwed, but that the science was less than sound. I did not follow the case very closely and I am not a scientist, so I cannot speak to that claim.
I would agree that Landis without the doping is a great story that I would think the Tour would want to embrace. With the doping it is a huge disgrace to the sport.
Not so fast
I know that there’s a group of people who are convinced that AFLD totally screwed up the testing and that even the testing for the synthetic testosterone isn’t to be relied upon, BUT . . .
having read the report created by Arnie Baker after the CAS decision, there are significant flaws in Baker’s reasoning. To mention perhaps the most significant one, Allen Lim has frequently been quoted as saying that Landis’s power file for the stage 17 ride was not atypical when compared to some of Landis’s training files.
But what Lim never said (and what Baker never addressed) is the false comparison that’s made: what are Landis’s power files like in the last week of a 3 week GT?
There are enough other examples of cherry-picking and pushing connections that aren’t necessarily logical that I was not able to come away from Baker’s report thinking he’d vindicated Landis.
[There’s doubt about whether or not Baker was involved with hacking the AFLD site . . . but there is no doubt that other people associated with Landis have no ethical integrity].
Aside from all of that . . . Landis simply blew his come-back. Even compared to Hamilton, who showed many of the same symptoms of poor adaptation to his returm, Landis underperformed, especially in time trials.
Aside from Amore e Vita, I can’t think of the team that would take a chance on him.
Hmmm... I'm not saying Landis couldn't ride like he did that day
and I want(ed) to “believe” in his performance too. But what caught me off gaurd that very day was seeing him get off the bike. I know these guys are in another league, but the guy hoped off his bike like he’d just taken a test ride on it. He was agitated like I’ve never seen him before and looked like an angry jacked up football player at the beginning of a game.
I just can’t believe he’s innocent, I don’t have that kind of faith. I didn’t follow the testimony very closely, but I also don’t see how testimony from one side or the other affects the positive test results.
It sounds like you’re saying it was a conspiracy then?
No horn, watch for finger.
Interesting
I’d never heard that. Is there anything to back that up, or just his word? He was definitely a scapegoat on some level though, no matter if the testing was in order or not – not a very bright/with it guy, not from a powerful athletics country…. A couple years ago he was shilling for an energy drink called “Cheetah”. I had to change the channel from secondhand embarassment every time those ads came on.
His coach Charlie Francis
has spoken about it a lot too and even wrote a book. Here’s an interview with him from last year
I heard this too from....
friends who live in Morzine and were at the finish, he jumped off the bike, shoved some people away and was way too jacked up for what he had just did, not really proof of anything but interesting anyways. They said everyone there thought it looked really suspicious, and if he was on the crazy amount of testosterone he tested for then I guess you would act like that. I’d like to believe Floyd based on his personality, really like his story but look at Hamilton “nicest guy in the peloton” but also had one of the most intense doping schedules according to that calendar that was leaked last year by the Belgian paper Het Laatste Nieuws….
by mister chips on Nov 19, 2009 12:50 PM EST up reply actions
actually,
Landis didn’t test positive for a “crazy” amount of testosterone.
He tested positive for a messed up ratio of testosterone to epi-testosterone, a fact which made a lot of his initial excuses look as silly as Hamilton’s “vanishing-twin” idea.
and . . . remember . . .
that stage finished on a descent with maybe a teeny climb in the last k.
It’s not like it was at the top of Joux Plane: Landis had plenty of time to recover on the descent and get thoroughly jacked up with adrenaline.
maybe...
and I’ve done that descent and its really sketchy and while I was a quivering ball of nerves I can see how it could leave you jacked up if you were actually a good descender. Its all pretty anecdotal really.
But, it makes me feel better that when Contador finishes, he looks shattered and has to be helped away by a handler.
by mister chips on Nov 19, 2009 1:28 PM EST up reply actions
+many on the contador point
it might not be an indicator of anything, but i totally agree.
"well...you live in england so: you love the rain. loves the queen. hates cycling. based on mr bean had a tremendous amount of humour. all ride in a mini cooper. all getting drunk before the age of 12. getting drunk at least 3 times a day."- frinking, 7/9/09
remembering...
I do recall that stage now a bit more, and remember that it was a stage set up perfectly for a breakaway because it was nothing but up and down, no flats where groups chasing would benefit. Like I said I believe Floyd was capable of that performance and that stage was a perfect set up for such an attack.
As far as recovering because it was a long descent, I don’t know, when you put in a solo performance like that on a day like that…. I expect to see a guy get off his bike and have a little bit of those sea legs kind of feeling. If he took testosterone it would be about the stupidist thing he could do, but he was put in a desperate situation. If he was screwed, it’s almost as bad as an innocent man being put to death.
If he can pull it together and make a better looking comeback than he has so far that would certainly help his cause. That should be motivation enough right there for him.
No horn, watch for finger.
... and and I think there is another perspective here.
Landis said that he would not have taken Testosterone because it does not help you on the day of a bike race. Some testimony during his inquiry supported his claim and some testimony stated that Testosterone aided in recovery between stages.
But I believe both sets of testimony of the issue did not indicate that a rider would have a monster day on the bike after taking Testosterone.
… and based upon the comments of a few riders like Jesus Manzano, there seems so be some indication that the Testosterone patch was very common. That is why I think Floyd seems to be so genuine when he says he is innocent. The Testosterone would not have made him ride so well and everyone was doing it. Now the truth is they tested several samples and without the big conspiracy I allow in my delusional defense of another fairly well know cyclist, he probably did have artificial Testosterone in his system on several days during the race but maybe what seemed like a super human effort was not so super human for Floyd, motivated by the fact that racing until he BURST might win him the biggest race in the world. Sounds familiar to a story I was telling recently about a certain G LM.
I waited a half an hour to give my two toddlers breakfast until I had my Eneco tour coverage sorted, then made sure I got them fed before the sprint. --- Bought With Blood. ..... Hmmm, my kinda people. If only they could explain to my wife why my bike belongs in the house and not the garage. --- Thevaro
Ben Johnson!
Too funny, he actually failed three (!) drug tests, two after the Olympics. Dude was a total disaster. I wouldn’t call admitting to everything but oh, not that particular drug “screwed”….
But hey, easy on Canada, we’ve always had a respectable track team…..(Donovan Bailey?) albeit borrowed from Jamaica.
by mister chips on Nov 19, 2009 12:44 PM EST reply actions
Oh yeah! Well I heard from this guy who had a friend who's brother knew this person and that person was in France when the Tour was on watching it in a bar with a bunch of guys and one of them said they worked for this lab that . . . . . .
A forum would just not be a real forum on the internet unless the conjecture and anecdotes can run endlessly when there is no viable data to support things.
None.
The Process had numerous flaws from the point his piss hit the bottle.
Under oath everyone admitted to these flaws, and yet the data was deemed pure enough to destroy a man.
Whatever people saw on TV, or at the race, or whatever his theoretical wattage output was is not actually evidence of anything.
The evidence was a lab test of his piss which was performed outside of so many protocols and SOP’s I am truly astonished this lab is still operating.
Yes R Mc – the AFLD totally screwed up and admitted to it under oath!
Say what you want, it doesn’t really matter.
MavicMoto – Now you see why I only usually reply to the Tech stuff here anymore.
If it's really true he didn't dope..
Why can’t he ride a “dent in a package butter” in the American circuit. How keen i want to believe your point he hasn’t sdone nothing to prove the world wrong. If you are a true TdF rider there are races in the American circuit you can win.. Only if it’s one climbstage.. I admit I saw him only in the ToC, where he started as one of the favorites but it was nada. He has to show more “spine” if he wants to convince me that he didn’t ride without dope..
What do you fear most?
1. coup d’etat
2. putsch
Ooh my head was jumping from point to point. Story wasn't real logic
What do you fear most?
1. coup d’etat
2. putsch
Recovering from massive surgery is tricky
There are no guarantees your body will ever return to it’s previous condition after as big an operation as Landis had.
recognizing that we're dealing with spin, but
let’s at least keep the stories straight:
A rough re-construction of the hip-replacement time-line:
Problem revealed during 06 TdF: gist of story: Looky-here, another brave American who can eat pain for breakfast lunch and dinner ala Armstrong and Hamilton. (cf: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/26/health/webmd/main1836783.shtml)
Hip replacement surgery discussed during TdF. (Recovery juxtaposed with Landis’s current performance to suggest nbd. Issue of major contract infringement by not revealing extent of damage to employers left sorta hanging. THat’s an issue which sorta works to the detriment of Landis’s over-all credibility, just btw)
Wili-p dates the hip replacement surgery to September 27, 2006. This is confirmed on the OUCH site: Floyd had the Smith and Nephew Birmingham Hip resurfacing procedure performed on 9/27/06. He has made a full recovery and will now attempt to return to Professional Cycling.
Subsequent articles noted no major complications. So to blame his lack of performance on the hip re-surfacing is inaccurate.
I'm just saying
medical procedures are not always something you shrug off. He may be fully recovered by normal person standards but returning to the very edge of performance that is demanded at pro level isn’t something you can absolutely take for granted.
I have no idea , I’m just saying that determining that he doped solely based on the fact that his performances are below 2006 standards is iffy.
Of all of the crap that's happened to Landis
I think the hip-resurfacing would be the easiest to shrug off.
Honestly, I can’t provide a beyond a shadow of a doubt answer to the question: did he conclusively test positive? I’m inclined to the “signs point to yes” side, but people I otherwise respect disagree, and for reasons that I can’t dismiss.
But leaving that aside: his father-in-law committed suicide, his wife divorced him, his parents repudiated him, he had to admit to helping reveal embarassing confidential information in a very public arena.
The hip can be resurfaced, I don’t think there’s an effective psychological resurfacing program for those traumas.
Never heard that he got a divorce
On top of all the other stuff… Jesus, that is a metric ton of crap to deal with… I googled around and found an article from earlier in the year, prior to the ToC, so prior to his comeback. Warning, it might make you feel sorry for the man even if you are not so inclined…
Absolutely. Hard to understand how anyone could think that a metal hip
replacement in a cyclist wouldn’t be a huge deal even if it appears to have worked.
I sprained my ankle 5 years ago playing B-ball and its never been the same since. I imagine that’s true for a bunch of us out there.
I waited a half an hour to give my two toddlers breakfast until I had my Eneco tour coverage sorted, then made sure I got them fed before the sprint. --- Bought With Blood. ..... Hmmm, my kinda people. If only they could explain to my wife why my bike belongs in the house and not the garage. --- Thevaro
yes, a lovely Frinkism
and a ray of sunshine amidst all this talk of the unsavory Mr.Landis.
by Susie Hartigan on Nov 20, 2009 12:39 PM EST up reply actions
I'm going to learn how to pronounce this one.
I think this phrase could come in handy.
No horn, watch for finger.
In fairness
opinions on the legitimacy of the Landis ruling are divided and not as crystal clear as you make them out to be, even among those much more initiated than us IFP.
Like I said, anecdotes are evidence of nothing but they are interesting, and everyone seems to have the same one about how Landis acted at the finish. I spend a lot of time mountain biking in Morzine and the ‘Landis freak out at the finish’ is part of the local lore there, amongst people, ex-pats and French, who have watched a lot of bike races finish there, the Dauphine, TdF, and no one had seen someone react like that after finishing the Joux Plane as its a killer climb.
Take it for what it is, an entertaining piece of gossip on a website designed for entertainment. No one said it matters, relax, we’re not holding a retrial here.
by mister chips on Nov 20, 2009 9:43 AM EST reply actions
+2
"well...you live in england so: you love the rain. loves the queen. hates cycling. based on mr bean had a tremendous amount of humour. all ride in a mini cooper. all getting drunk before the age of 12. getting drunk at least 3 times a day."- frinking, 7/9/09
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