Lancaster County native Floyd Landis’ return to professional cycling was officially announced Thursday, according to Cyclingnews.com.
Landis, 33, a Farmersville native and Conestoga Valley High School graduate, will return from a two-year ban in 2009 to race for the newly formed OUCH presented by Maxxis team.
OUCH, under the sponsorship of OUCH Sports Medical Center, will be the reformulated Health Net by Maxxis team. Health Net announced earlier this year it was dropping sponsorship of the domestic pro squad. OUCH, based in Southern California, was founded by Dr. Brent Kay, Landis’ personal physician and an accomplished age-group track cyclist, Philadelphia Examiner cycling writer James Raia reports.
Landis won the 2006 Tour de France as captain of the Phonak team but was stripped of the title last year after arbiters determined he had used artificial testosterone to boost his performance to win the mountainous 17th stage. The two-year ban from professional cycling imposed on him is due to expire on January 30.
Kay, who testified during Landis’ arbitration hearing and oversaw his hip replacement surgery, told Cyclingnews the team sponsorship will allow him to showcase Landis’ Smith & Nephew hip. “We think it is going to set a precedent about what these joints can do,” he told the Australian on-line publication.
“I am really excited because I want to help Floyd return and also it is going to help get out message out. We are going to do some seminars next year about joint replacement, not just to the athlete community but also to the general public,” Kay said.
News leaked during last month’s Tour of Missouri that Landis was negotiating a contract with Moment Sports Group, owner of the Health Net team. The team has been dominant in the domestic pro road circuit in recent years. It was led this year by Australian Rory Sutherland and American Tim Johnson, Raia notes. The OUCH 2009 roster has not been announced.
After recovering from his hip replacement and when he was not in court or on the lecture circuit regarding his challenge of the doping allegations, Landis has participated in non-UCI sanctioned mountain bike races and the occasional charity ride.
