Landis's 'B' sample also positive

Yesterday's confirmation that Tour de France winner Floyd Landis tested positive for abnormal levels of testosterone -- and that a synthetic form of the hormone was present in his system -- poses the latest and most likely greatest crisis for an embattled sport and its premier event.

The news was predictable in that backup, or ``B sample," results rarely contradict initial findings. It officially turned a feel-good tale of achievement against long odds into a horror movie for Landis, his supporters, and cycling fans.

Landis was fired by his Switzerland-based Phonak team minutes after cycling's international governing body, the UCI, released the results of the analysis performed by the Chatenay-Malabry laboratory in France.

Landis plans to challenge the test results, the scientific validity of the test, and the way cycling authorities have handled his case. Unless he finds a way to exonerate himself, ``This will be the biggest hurdle the sport has ever faced," said ex-pro and cycling commentator Frankie Andreu.

Landis wouldn't be stripped of his Tour title by the UCI until the appeals process has run its course over the next few months. If he loses, he would be subject to a minimum two-year suspension starting on the date of the offense.

Spanish runner-up Oscar Pereiro -- Landis's friend and former Phonak teammate -- would be named the race winner. It would be the first time in the Tour's 103-year history that a champion had been disqualified for a doping offense.

The testing procedures have been staunchly defended by numerous anti-doping experts, and lab head Jacques de Ceaurriz called them ``foolproof" in a weekend interview with the Associated Press.

Although the UCI provided no details, Landis's personal physician last week confirmed media reports that the rider's testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio in the ``A" urine sample was 11:1, almost three times the allowable balance of 4:1.

Pierre Bordry, the head of France's anti-doping council, told the Associated Press yesterday he had been informed that the ``B" sample showed evidence of exogenous testosterone, or a form not produced naturally by the body. That would imply that the sample was analyzed with a technique known as carbon-isotope testing, which distinguishes between natural and artificial testosterone.

Landis, 30, of Murrieta, Calif., a former teammate of seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong, issued a statement through spokesman Michael Henson denying that he had ever used performance-enhancing drugs.

``I was the strongest man in the Tour de France, and that is why I am the champion," Landis said. ``I will fight these charges with the same determination and intensity that I bring to my training and racing."

Henson said Landis will speak to the media within the next couple of days. Phonak's management is expected to hold a press conference to address the latest blow to a team already reeling from a series of doping scandals.

The Landis case will now shift to hearings held by the US Anti-Doping Agency in Colorado Springs, where his team of lawyers and experts will try to get the test results overturned. If Landis is unsuccessful there, he can make a final appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.

``This is more than a blemish," Andreu said. ``It's a major stain. The Tour will survive. Other races will go on. The sport won't come to a screeching halt. I'm just disappointed -- I was so happy when he did what he did."

Former cyclist and longtime television analyst Paul Sherwen described himself as ``gutted, really upset," and hard-pressed to maintain his usual optimism.

``If he can't prove his innocence, well, the sport has done a great job, because the sport has been brave enough to kick out someone who was cheating," Sherwen said.

Testosterone is generally used to allow for more intensive training rather than provide a quick boost during a competition. Yet there is anecdotal evidence that cyclists and other athletes are trying to make it work that way in the form of pills, creams, patches, or suppositories.

Some experts have theorized that athletes try to mask the oral or topical use of testosterone by injecting epitestosterone as a means of bringing their ratios back into line.

Dr. Mike Ashenden, head of an Australian research consortium called Science and Industry Against Blood Doping, said training diaries that have surfaced in various doping cases show that athletes are taking a multipronged approach, mixing anabolic steroids and human growth hormone with traditional blood-boosting substances like EPO.

Against that backdrop, ``it's not out of the question" for an athlete to try a quick fix of testosterone even if there's no scientific proof that it's effective, Ashenden said.

The ``B" sample result ended more than a week of speculation targeting Landis, whose positive test came after a remarkable ride in the Alps that put him back into contention. Landis, who had lost the lead in a collapse the day before that put him more than eight minutes behind Pereiro, attacked early in Stage 17 and rode away from the pack.

His win was hailed as epic by Tour officials happy to leave behind the doping scandal that broke at the start of the race and resulted in the last-minute suspensions of several top riders.

Physiologist Allen Lim, who has worked with Landis for two years, said the ride wasn't superhuman. Lim said the rider averaged 280 watts over nearly 5 1/2 hours in Stage 17, but has averaged 300 watts or above during six-hour training rides. Watts are calculated based on how hard and fast a rider pedals.

The fact that other riders didn't react quickly enough to Landis's aggressive tactics explains the win as much as his own athletic performance, according to Lim.

``I know he's not lying," Lim said. ``I know how he prepared for this Tour. He won this race fair and square."