The IRMS test would give the same result whether he was taking cortisone or using a testosterone patch or both.  AFAIK there is no way to use that test to distinguish between the two.

As I said in a comment on another thread, the use of cortisone means that Landis can't use the IRMS test to counter the T/E ratio in his sample.

OTOH, they should be able to test all of Landis' TdF samples to see if the result is consistent.

Looks like this further leak on Landis' test results comes from the French newspaper Le Monde, which is associated with the testing lab, and was also the paper that wrote the infamous story with the alleged test results from seven-year-old Lance Armstrong samples.

Samuel Abt:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/30/sports/BIKE.php

William Fotheringham:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/sport/story/0,,1833551,00.html

Apparently, according to the reported A-sample test results, after stage 17, Landis' T/E ratio measured at 11:1.

Landis was also tested after stages 19 and 20, because he was the GC leader after those stages.  But no "irregular" result was found in those samples, apparently.

Shouldn't those samples also have shown a T/E ratio above the 4:1 limit?  It's not possible that the alleged "excess" testosterone simply vanished in two days, is it?

That means that anyone riding a grand tour stage or a long one-day race could take testosterone the morning of the race and still pass a post-race test, unless they were careless or unlucky?

Wow.

Doping in professional cycling is a rather common, secular event. So why get so worked up about it? Let's see, if we go back a few years and do a little research we have Pantani (Italy), Veronique (France), Heras (Spain), Basso (Italy), Ullrich (Germany), Mancebo (Spain), Hamilton, Armstrong, and Landis (USA) all implicated in one way or another in doping. I'm sure I've left out somebody, but it's not like it should come as a surprise that cyclists dope. Americans don't have a lock on doping practices or the podium either.

So why get so bent out of shape? The only thing that seems to have changed over the last 10-100 years or so is the level of sophistication and professionalism so many guys from so many countries bring to bear on their art. The UCI keeps blaming somebody else (WADA, the French Ministry of Sport) and quite simply allows the practice to continue.
 

The first lead I had was an American whom I doubt had any (zero) connection with the lab several days before Landis' lawyer started sniveling. The most likely sources I'd say are the UCI, Phonak, Landis himself, and WADA in about that order. The French Ministry of Sport is out of the loop by their own account.

Can you post a link with your source or are you just speculating?

The French, ASO, the Tour, the French Ministry of Sport, and the French press are doing everything they can to clean up their national event. Rather than admit their problem, the UCI in turn, turns around and blames them. The Tour is like the World Series and the Super Bowl in one to the French and dopers the world over are ruining it and the sport itself.

I for one find your insinuations against the lab very disturbing.

Since when are dopers allowed to commit fraud in secret? If you follow the UCI rules, the answer is always and forever. I don't care much about Lance's or Landis' or Heras' or Basso's or Ullrich's privacy anymore. In fact, I'm waiting impatiently for the names of about 50 more riders who are getting off the hook pretty easy so far.

It's looking more and more like somebody on Floyd's crew really misfired on his re-up dosage the morning of stage 17.

I mean, where are we going with this? Floyd naturally produces massive, truly epic, and heretofore unremarked-upon amounts of testosterone?

Or perhaps vindictive French officials squirted testosterone into his samples.

I'm not saying the above theories are impossible, but in light of cycling's history, they just seem less improbable than the plain old boring fact that Floyd took testosterone.

I am, of course, still very much hoping that B sample comes back negative. It's all been very disheartening.

So fingers still crossed. I think it's great, too, that many people on the board here have been so supportive of Floyd.

I'm drifting off-topic here, but the reason I was thinking about Lance's lieutenants was because Daniel Coyle, the author of "Lance's War," was a guest on an American sports radio show.

After a long discussion about Floyd's current situation, the hosts asked Coyle point-blank if he thought Lance had ever doped.

Coyle hemmed and hawed for quite a bit, and then finally said he thought that one day Lance would have his own Mark McGwire moment.

(McGwire was a US baseball player and home-run hero who ultimately testified before US Congress that he had used [at the time legal] steroids.)

The fact that many of Lance's top lieutenants have since been busted on doping charges does not at all mean US Postal/Disco had an instituted policy of doping---but it certainly doesn't make Lance look good.

It has been, as I've written elsewhere, a completely discouraging and disheartening week for me as a cyclist and a cycling fan.

Anyway, how about a few numbers?

"Cycling News" reports of "40 surprise tests in Hamburg":

"The UCI carried out 40 unannounced drug controls on the eve of the Vattenfall Cyclassics in Hamburg yesterday. At a pre-race press conference, German federation president Rudolf Scharping announced that all the tests were negative. Afterwards, the winner of the race, plus two additional riders, were also tested."

Out of around 175 riders they surprise tested nearly 25%. Not too shabby.