The international Court of Arbitration for Sport today upheld Lancaster County native Floyd Landis’ suspension on charges that he doped to win the 2006 Tour de France.
Landis, of Farmersville, is the first winner to be stripped of his title in the 105-year-history of the race.
The ruling ends a two-year legal saga that began three days after Landis stood atop the podium in Paris. His reputation is now formally ruined despite the more that $2 million he spent on his defense.
Arbiters from the Switzerland-based court agreed with a three-arbiter panel from the North American Arbitration Association that concluded in September that Landis used artificial testosterone to boost his performance on stage 17 of the three-week race. Landis has steadfastly maintained his innocence.
His defense succeeded in pointing out errors in the initial testosterone-epitestosterone ratio testing by the French lab during the earlier hearing in Malibu, Calif. in May 2007. Two members of that three-member panel, however, ruled that the subsequent carbon isotope ratio tests showed the presence of artificial testosterone in his urine.
The international court, which heard the case “de novo,” or anew, during a five-day hearing in March, also found “less than ideal laboratory practices, but not lies, fraud, forgery or cover-ups,” that Landis’ legal team alleged. Instead, the 58-page ruling scolded Landis for attempting to muddle evidence and embarrass the French lab.
Landis’ two-year suspension is due to expire anyway on Jan. 30. He has been competing in unsanctioned, 100-mile endurance mountain bike races this season and may return to road racing next year.
“I am saddened by today’s decision,” Landis said in a statement. “I am looking into my legal options and deciding on the best way to proceed.”
Mike Farrington, owner of Ephrata’s Green Mountain Cyclery bike shop and a long-time friend of Landis, said late this morning that he feels sad for Landis.
“He fought as far as he could and he lost. That doesn’t change my opinion of him one bit. I anything, it strengthens it. He’s a great guy,” said Farrington.
Farrington said he believes Landis will come back to racing after the suspension is lifted. He believes his friend will be propelled by anger and a desire to prove his ability.
“No matter what the verdict, everybody has already lost by the way this whole thing has been handled,” Farrington said before the ruling was announced.
Landis’ reputation will be forever tarnished by the charges, he said. And, cycling - which was on the verge of becoming a mainstream sport during the years Lance Armstrong was winning the Tour de France - was probably set back 20 years by the doping charges, he believes.
Landis’ case has been precedent setting because he is the first athlete to defend himself so vigorously and publicly. Prior to the May 2007 hearing, Landis defense team began posting information on the Internet in what came to be known as the “wiki defense.” The process invited comments from the public. Many scientists, including some who were barred from commenting officially because they work at anti-doping labs, provided analysis that helped guide the defense.
The result was an extensive defense case in which Landis’ legal team pointed out hundreds of errors and inconsistencies in the lab work. They argued the case against him could not be believed.
Landis also presented an overview of that defense, entitled “What’s Fair is Clear,” at a series of town hall-style meetings early last year. Along with building public support for his case, Landis raised money for his defense.
He sold-out the Ephrata Performing Arts Center for two nights in March 2007, when friends, family and fans came to hear his side of the story.
Landis continued his public campaign into the hearing room. He was the first athlete to opt to have an open door hearing. There was daily news coverage of the 10-day hearing at Pepperdine University, in Malibu, Calif.
That likely worked against him when three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond was called to testify on behalf of the U.S. Anti-doping Agency. LeMond contended that Landis admitted in a telephone conversation that he had doped. Landis flatly denied the account. LeMond testimony caught international attention when he also reveled that Landis’ manager Will Goeghegan had called him the night before and threatened to expose the sexual abuse that LeMond had suffered as a child if LeMond testified against Landis. Landis fired Goeghegan.
Landis’ public discussion of the case, and his career, continued into last summer with the release of his autobiography “Positively False,” which he co-wrote with Bicycling Magazine editor Loren Mooney. He went on a book-signing tour. The book became a best-seller.
Landis started racing mountain bikes as a teenager in Brickerville. He became a professional mountain bike racer after graduating from Conestoga Valley High School in 1994. He later switched to road bicycle racing. As a member of the U.S. Postal team, he helped Lance Armstrong claim three of his seven Tour de France victories.
