Why didn't Floyd Landis' earlier test results show up positive?

Question

I understand that testosterone is only a useful steriod to enhance training, not to give a one day lift in performance. If this is this case, Floyd must have been taking it for some period of time before the race. If so, why didn't the earlier tests he did show the elevated levels?

Answer 1

Simple. The other tests didn't come up positive because they weren't subjected to the isotope test. Landis tested positive for an elevated RATIO of testosterone to epitestosterone. You can still have a balanced ratio of those hormones, but still have elevated levels in your system. Also, both of those hormones can be synthesized. On the days Landis tested clean, I would bet that he was taking BOTH hormones to keep his ratio even. On the day he tested positive, he forgot to take (or didn't take enough) epitestosterone. After all, he was supposedly drinking whiskey and beer the night before, and perhaps a little hung over that morning... I bet that if Landis' other samples were re-tested for artificial testosterone, they would come up positive as well.

The question then becomes "why would Landis have been taking artificial testosterone if he wasn't 'training'?" Other athletes have tested positive for testosterone and other steroids while in competition as well, probably due to remnants of the drugs in their system from earlier training sessions. Just because someone isn't training at the time they get tested doesn't mean they weren't training earlier (perhaps the day or week prior).

Also, the testosterone here may not have been a remnant from prior training. Who says a rider can't be working to improve his fitness while racing? In fact, racers commonly use other races to "train" for the Tour (e.g. in 2005 Armstrong in the Dauphine Libere and Ullrich in the Tour of Switzerland). Granted, the Tour de France is too big to be just a "training race", but to a certain extent, exercise is exercise. Riders always want to get faster and stronger. Any longer-term fitness benefits Landis gained from riding the tour that were accentuated by taking testosterone would have worked to improve his performance in subsequent races that he may have been scheduled to ride later in the season, such as the Vuelta de Espana or the World Championships.

Answer 2

Are you people really that anti-French that you automatically think that this must be a conspiracy? Face it, the guy cheated. The French lab did not have access to the names corresponding to the samples, only the samples. Do you really think that it is a coincidence that he tested positive for performance enhancing drugs AFTER he made an UNPRECEDENTED run on that stage? Anyone who thinks this is anything other than a guy caught cheating needs to buy my bridge. Its real nice and not at all French! And if this is just a conspiracy to keep an American from winning, why didn't they do the same thing on any one of the SEVEN times Armstrong won?
Are you people still bent out of shape about France being right about Iraq all along and you being hopelessly wrong? Read up on your Ockham. The simplest answer is usually the right one, and the simplest answer is not that there was a vast French conspiracy but rather that the guy got caught cheating. Are there any other ridiculous conspiracy theories you guys want to air? Maybe the French were behing 9-11 all this time, or maybe that's where Saddam sent the WMD he didn't have. Shoot for the stars, people. If you're going to be idiotic and mindless, go big!

Answer 3

Come on people, the evidence is solid and indisputable...Floyd Landis cheated and he got caught. It sounds like most everybody else on this list is in more denial than Floyd is. He may have been using lower doses of testosterone gel earlier and thus avoided detection, but slipped up once and allowed a higher-than-normal dose. Don't you think it's peculiar that the guy has given multiple reasons for the positive test results (yes, plural) in order to cover his butt? Which excuse today Floyd? Your "naturally" high testosterone? The beer(s) you drank the night before? The whiskey? The cortisone shot? It would be more believable if he stuck to one pantywaist excuse. He's guilty and he deserves to be stripped of the yellow jersey. Get him out of the sport. The media didn't invent this; they have reported the facts. Anybody blaming the media is looking for more excuses than Floyd.

Answer 4

utable...Floyd Landis cheated and he got caught. It sounds like most everybody else on this list is in more denial than Floyd is. He may have been using lower doses of testosterone gel earlier and thus avoided detection, but slipped up once and allowed a higher-than-normal dose. Don't you think it's peculiar that the guy has given multiple reasons for the positive test results (yes, plural) in order to cover his butt? Which excuse today Floyd? Your "naturally" high testosterone? The beer(s) you drank the night before? The whiskey? The cortisone shot? It would be more believable if he stuck to one pantywaist excuse. He's guilty and he deserves to be stripped of the yellow jersey. Get him out of the sport. The media didn't invent this; they have reported the facts. Anybody blaming t

Answer 5

I cannot answer the question as to why but I have an idea that might help put some integrity into the testing. If 2 samples are taken they should be immediately seperated. Sample 1 can go the the French Lab and sample 2 could go to another lab in another country. That way if sample 1 turns up positive sample 2 can be tested using the same process at a different, more independent, lab. If both come up positive then there is less support of the "the French hate the US" conspiracy theory. If one is positive and one is negative further investigation is needed.

Answer 6

I do not believe Mr. Landis was doping. I believe that French animosity toward Americans and the fact that an American has dominated the Tour de France for so many years caused someone in the lab or even a spectator to sabatoge him. I know for a fact that there are transdermal testosterone gels (Andro-Gel) that will raise your testosterone when applied to the skin. The application of such a product without a persons knowledge would be quite easy if mixed with water in a concentrated enough solution and thrown on a shirt as some spectators are known to do with cold water. If that water was spiked with testosterone gel, as it is completely colorless, it would be undetected and would raise a persons testosterone level considerably. I have no doubt that Mr. Landis was, in some way, sabotaged. By who, we may never know. Why? I think that is obvious.

Answer 7

While it's fun to speculate, try and remember that we know very little about the tests or the specific results from the tests.

For example, the above poster said I can't see how his testosterone levels exploded like that... Well according to some info, they didn't. His Epitestosterone levels dropped a bunch.

Also, none of us know the kinds of drugs there are out there. Maybe after he blew up in the stage, he got careless with his drugs and took too much of something or didn't take a masking agent or who knows. That could account for why only one of his tests came up strangely.

Hell maybe something he ingested during the race ad some sort of substance to mess with his levels and they thought it would return to normal before he was tested but it didn't for some reason.

It's too complex an issue for any of us to say that it looks fishy or something to that effect.

Sure if your an american it may look fishy that it's a french lab. But doesn't it look fishy from the otherside if Landis times the public knowing of his cortisone shots (which he has had to take for years) to right in the middle of the tour? Maybe a safety excuse to blame a positive test on?

Just trying to look at things not through an American bias.

My outlook...He tested positive, A and B sample. Something caused these unnatural levels, considering that he has no priot history of it so it can't be his natural metabolism. His excuses are horrible (first it's too much alcohol, then it's natural for his levels to do that...then thyroid meds, then cortisone, then dehydrahation, then who knows what). In my mind, he's a guilty cheat.

Answer 8

Testonsterone can not be taken in such a small amount to show up on one test and effect a persons ability to perform at a higher level. The scientist are calling the extra testosterone that has shown up in his blood as "from another source other than his body." Because they don't think it's possible for the body to adapt and produce more testosterone naturally. So I guess evolution is not possible. The human body must be not capable of changing to help in certain conditions, like that of the stress a rider must endure in the Tour de France.

Answer 9

I believe the problem was the baseline for their testing. Floyd Landis has twice as many testicles as the winner of the 6 or 7 previous Tours de France, Lance Armstrong, who lost one due to testicular cancer.

Landis also has two more testicles than the average frenchmen.

With this in mind, my theory is that the French have no clue what a normal testosterone level should look like.

They should let us do a retest.

Answer 10

Someone put the substance in something he ate or drank or it was put in after the urine test. As he says only an idiot would try testosterone for a one day ride it takes a long time to work its effect. Its also easy to test for and the UCI has been testing for it for a long time. What about the other multiple drug tests he had that were clean just days before? I wondered if the substance was put into his system in a large dose the day he bonked. He mentioned he didn't feel good before the start. Just to satisfy the critics I would suggest he take a polygraph test and show the world the results.He's no fool. I'll stick by him till he says himself that he did it.

Answer 11

They don't do every test on every sample. The ratio of epitestosterone to testosterone indicated an outside source. It could be that Floyd's poor showing the day before caused his epitestosterone to plunge. Once he re-applied the patch or cream containing synthetic testosterone, his testosterone level remained high or the same instead of dropping in relation to his epitestosterone. This was a red flag to the lab techs to check for synthetic sources. That is why there were no positives before. Because he always remained below the threshold for testosterone there was no test prior to stage 17 for synthetic testosterone. The cause for the test indicating synthetic steroids was the abnormal ratio, not the overall amount.