Landis retires

cadence · Landis retires

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_cycling_landis_retirement

(Reuters) - PARIS, Jan 18 (Reuters) – Disgraced rider Floyd Landis, the man who was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title for doping and accused Lance Armstrong of cheating, has retired, the American said.

"I'll never start on a line on a road and try to get to another line on a road faster than another guy. That's over," Landis, 35, told ESPN.com.

Landis won the Tour in 2006 but failed a dope test for testosterone during the race and was stripped of the title.

He denied any wrongdoing until last May, when he admitted to doping and accused former team mate Armstrong, a seven-times Tour champion, and others of doping when they were both riding for the U.S. Postal team.

Landis took part in a few races in 2010 as an independent rider but failed to secure a proper contract.

SlowRower

I still wonder what exactly he was taking to get him up Alpe D'Huez in under 38:40 that year. This is the 10th faster time ever recorded up said slope and 7 of those faster are from '94, '95 and '97.

http://le-grimpeur.net/blog/archives/52

When the "Force" was with him, along with the medicine cupboard, he was pretty swift.

Still a pr*t, though!

Mrs John Murphy

Why a prat?

A prat for doping, or a prat because he dared to blow the whistle, or a prat because he waited so long to blow the whistle?

SlowRower

Certainly not for doping! Without doping he'd be a 35 year old guy who no-one had heard of. With it, he won the TdF, albeit briefly, which isn't a bad return.

Trying to talk his way out of his "bust" was fairly prat-like, but it's the timing of the whistle-blowing that really swings it.

He's blown the whistle on Armstrong, but gets no credit for it, as everyone knows it was just revenge for Lance not giving him a place with Shack. If he'd taken his "bust" on the chin and blown the whistle in 2007, he'd be able to occupy the moral high ground and would be rehabilitated to a certain extent. He'd also most likely have been able to sell the story for a large pile of cash.

Landis is primarily branded non-credible as a witness because of his post-bust conduct. Apart from the oddity re the ToS that Lance didn't ride in, his detailed accusations are pretty compelling (I guess most people didn't think he was the type to keep a coded diary!) and if he'd not made himself look like a man who wouldn't know the truth if it bit him on the bottom post-bust, the "non-credible" label would have been very hard to make stick and a book would, I think, have been a big seller.

The LeMond incident didn't do him any favours either.

Mrs John Murphy

I don't recall you defending Lemond at the time of the incident...

The only people who don't think Landis is credible regarding his whistleblowing is Armstrong and his fanboys.

You are obviously out for a morning troll.