Tour de France Month on July, 2024: Will Floyd Landis be able to join the next Tour De France?

July, 2024 is Tour de France Month 2024. Wife and Baggage to Follow: Le Tour de France the Tour de France (TDF).

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Will Floyd Landis be able to join the next Tour De France?

No. He is currently serving a 2-year suspension for his drug test failures after the 2006 race. He still maintains his innocence; his final appeal is due out later this month.

He would be eligible to participate in the 2009 race, but currently he doesn't belong to any team and might have trouble getting any team to hire him. He will be 34 years old for the '09 race; usually about the tail end of a cyclist's pro career.

Are there any americans favored in this years tour de france?

Are there any americans favored in this years tour de france?

there are barely any americans in the race.

Garmin (slipstream) Chipotle is entering 3 (Will Frischkorn, Danny Pate, Christian Vande Velde) and I think George Hincapie on Columbia (High Road, aka T-Mobile)

I don't think any of them are favorites for the overall victory, but Hincapie has won multiple stages (and worn yellow) before, Vande Velde had pink last month at the Giro, and there are a couple great time-trialers on Garmin and they could do very well in a Team-Time-Trial (as they showed at TdGeorgia and the Giro). I'll be rooting for Garmin-Chipotle all month.

I think Valverde or Sastre are probably the favorites for the overall, but the Schleck brothers could be impressive too. With Boonen out Robbie the pocket rocket McEwen is probably in line for Green.

Has Floyd Landis been stripped of his victory of the Tour De France?

Has Floyd Landis been stripped of his victory of the Tour De France?

No, not yet. Here's an article all about it from Yahoo! News.

Dehydration is the latest possible reason offered for Tour de France winner Floyd Landis' elevated testosterone levels.

"Maybe a combination of dehydration, maximum effort," Jose Maria Buxeda, the cyclist's lawyer, said Thursday after testing began on his backup sample.

That theory was flatly rejected by one of the world's top anti-doping officials.

"In 25 years of experience of testing ... such a huge increase in the level of testosterone cannot be accepted to come from any natural factors," said Prof. Christiane Ayotte, director of Montreal's anti-doping laboratory.

"If dehydration was the case, then marathon runners would be testing positive all the time. Tennis players would be testing positive all the time. Dehydration is a medical condition that requires hospitalization. It has been invoked in the past, but not one case -- to my knowledge -- has been successful in this argument."

Phonak was notified July 27 that Landis turned up a testosterone-epitestosterone ratio of 11:1 -- nearly three times the 4:1 limit -- after speeding his way back into contention during Stage 17.

Ever since, the cyclist and his defense team have offered varying explanations, including cortisone shots taken for pain in Landis' degenerating hip; drinking beer and whiskey the night before; thyroid medication; and his natural metabolism.

The latest theory -- dehydration -- appears to contrast with events. Landis pushed ahead at the 45-mile mark July 20 and rode the rest of the stage alone, which he later called an "advantage" because he was constantly near his team's car and the liquids it carried. He constantly splashed his face and drank fluids as he rode up the Alps.

"It was nice to be alone," Landis said after the stage. "It was an advantage."

Speaking at the Chatenay-Malabry laboratory, which is conducting the analysis, Buxeda said he expects the "B" sample to confirm the original positive result. Results are expected Saturday.

However, Buxeda contends a second positive sample would not be enough to find Landis guilty. He also seemed to question the validity of the French lab, which is accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Olympic Committee.

"I wouldn't say that they know. I would say they can presume. They do not have the certainty," Buxeda said.

By contrast, Landis is "certain" he hasn't ingested banned substances, Buxeda said.

If the "B" sample is positive, the results will be sent to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which would handle the case. If found guilty, Landis would be stripped of the Tour de France title and banned for two years, although the process could take several months to clear any appeals.

Seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong also said last week that the lab may not be reliable. He previously said his urine samples might have been mishandled, defending himself against allegations by French sports daily L'Equipe that he tested positive for EPO during the 1999 Tour.

Last Friday, Armstrong told The Associated Press that he "can't help but be aware the lab that found this suspicious reading is the same one that was at the center of the L'Equipe affair."

WADA chief Dick Pound maintained testing in an accredited lab is "properly done."

Earlier this week, a New York Times report said a second analysis of Landis' "A" sample had detected synthetic testosterone that could only have originated externally, according to a source from the International Cycling Union. Landis' personal doctor, Brent Kay, also confirmed to the Times that the test found the man-made hormone.

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