The French anti-doping authority has dismissed proceedings against Spanish cyclist Oscar Pereiro for failing two doping tests during the 2006 Tour de France.

He showed them a note from his doctor. End of story. Everything is forgiven.

Last week a French newspaper reported the leak that Pereiro tested positive for the banned substance salbutamol (an asthma medication) during the Tour ...   more »

In the irony of ironies, Spanish cyclist Oscar Pereiro is being questioned by French anti-doping authorities for two failed drug tests during the Tour de France.

The number 2 finisher in last year's Tour, Pereiro, left, had been all but annointed with the yellow jersey as 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis fights accusations that he doped during the Tour. If Landis loses the fight, he loses the Tour title.

If Pereiro can't satisfactorily respond to the doping accusations, the title might go to -- bear with me while I look this up -- No. 3 finisher Andreas Kloden (Germany) of T-Mobile. But the French newspaper Le Monde says six other unidentified cyclists are being challenged.

As we go down the GC, we don't get to a Frenchman until AG2R's Cyril Dresser in No. 7. That might sound a little fishy, but Le Monde reported that some of the cyclists being challenged were Frenchmen. ....   more »

Cyclist Floyd Landis received word this week from the US Anti-Doping Agency that he's been formally charged with using performance-enhancing drugs during the Tour de France bicycle race.

The next step, a hearing before a three-person arbitration panel, could occur by January. The 30-year-old American cyclist has said he wants that hearing to be open to the public.

If Landis fails to convince the arbiters that the tests carried out by the French lab were flawed, the whole thing will end up in the lap of the Court of Arbitration of Sport. That's the last stop before Landis would be suspended from professional cycling for two years and lose his Tour de France title. He's already ...   more »

Floyd Landis will launch his defense against doping charges next week when his attorney submits materials to a US Anti-Doping Agency review board that there's insufficient evidence to proceed against this year's Tour de France winner.

In a press release posted at FloydLandis.com, attorney Howard Jacobs says he and a team of scientific experts found "inconsistencies in the testing protocol and methodology" after reviewing 370 pages of documents provided by the French lab. ...   more »

OLN bicycling commentator Phil Liggett was interviewed about the Floyd Landis affair last weekend by Carlton Reid of UK-based BikeBiz, a bicycle industry newsletter. Reid posted the interview online at YouTube.com in his Cycling News & View series.

"I'm still very skeptical about the whole thing," Liggett says. "The Laboratory (Châtenay-Malabry) is unscrupulous to say the least, because they shouldn't know the sample they're testing." ...   more »

“And the more you get out there and talk about it, I have to talk about it. The best is just to let the process play out and get out of the media. ... I would have encouraged him just to lay low. ...   more »

Floyd Landis appeared on Jay Leno's Tonight Show to offer still another possible reason why he tested positive for a high testosterone level in the Tour de France.

"I don't know if it's somehow or some way I ingested something that caused the tests to be that way,'' Landis told Leno. ...   more »

If you still want to believe in Floyd Landis, then you'll want to read his interview in USA Today.

Landis, who's holed up at his home in Murrieta, California, blamed the leaks from Union Cycliste Internationale for his having to scramble to try and come up with an explanation for the out-of-whack testosterone-epitestosterone ratio. ...   more »

It's a black day in cycling. As most everyone expected, even Floyd Landis, the much-anticipated "B" sample came back positive.

The 30-year-old Tour de France winner was immediately fired by the Phonak team. He'll probably lose his Tour de France championship as well, depending on the action of the US Anti-Doping Agency. ...   more »

While we all sit around waiting for the French lab to test "B" sample from the Tour de France, here's what's happening on the Floyd Landis front.

Nothing. But that doesn't stop the flow of information. Here's a news item, a blog about organic chemistry, the reliability of lab tests, Bob Roll asking questions and a video from the Steven Colbert Report:

Landis has hired Howard Jacobs of Los Angeles as his attorney. Jacobs specializes in athlete-doping cases and was Tyler Hamilton's attorney. ...   more »

Synthetic testosterone was detected in the Floyd Landis urine sample taken after Stage 17 at the Tour de France, an unidentified worker in the Union Cycliste International's anti-doping department told the New York Times.

If true -- none of this is official, the latest comes from an unidentified source -- it would fly in the face of the Tour de France winner's contention that the high ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone was a natural condition of his physiology. ...   more »

Since a doping allegation is no frivolous matter in the sport of cycling, Floyd Landis skipped the Jay Leno show Friday night for an interview by Larry King on CNN.

"I'm going to do my best to defend my dignity and my innocence," the Tour de France winner told King.

Lance Armstrong spoke on the show in support of Landis' character. ...   more »

Danish journalist and photographer Joergen Leth narrates a photo essay on the Tour de France at Magnum Photos.

We're talking 35 mostly black and white images taken over the years of the Tour and its environs. Add a little accordian music for a pleasureable experience. Magnum Photos, a cooperative owned my its photographer members, has been covering the Tour de France for some 60 years.

We may know as early as Monday the results of an analysis of Floyd Landis' "B" sample and whether the American cyclist will be able to keep his 2006 Tour de France championship.

Making his first public appearance on Friday, Landis told a press conference that he has naturally high testosterone, and that he would undergo further testing to prove the high testosterone ratio is due to natural physiology. ...   more »

Tour de France winner Floyd Landis -- who has tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone -- denied that he took the performance-enhancing drug to gain a boost during the bike race, which ended Sunday.

When asked by Sports Illustrated columnist Austin Murphy if used testosterone, Landis responded: "No, c'mon man." ...   more »

Say it ain't so, Floyd. Was winning the Tour de France so important that you had to resort to cheating? Let's hope not.

Even after several top cyclists were expelled prior to the Tour over doping allegations, I'm still shocked to hear that Floyd Landis tested positive for the banned substance testosterone in a sample taken after his historic Stage 17 victory. Another analysis is scheduled.

It's like talking with a friend on a bike ride and getting blindsided by a low-hanging branch at the side of the road. ...   more »

As American Floyd Landis battled his way back into the Tour de France leadership on Thursday, more Americans tuned in to watch than at any time previously during this year's three-week bike race.

Meanwhile, the network says it will continue to cover bicycle racing in 2007 with its Sunday coverage of the Giro d'Italia, Paris-Nice, and other spring classics, as well as adding the Tour of California. ...   more »

Tour de France winner Floyd Landis, left, is trying to curb speculation that he's changing teams; he says he'll stay with his current team, which is switching its title sponsorship to San Francisco-based iShares next season.

Meanwhile, US cyclist Levi Leipheimer signed with the Discovery Channel team. ..   more »

"I'm glad we didn't have to make that choice. Church is very important to us. We felt in our hearts he was going to win. He is not one to take second place." ...   more »

For the eighth straight year, an American took the podium on the Champs-Elysees Sunday as native Pennsylvanian Floyd Landis won the Tour de France championship.

The 30-year-old leader of the Phonak team thanked his teammates for supporting him, especially for his comeback in the final Alpine stage. Later he told OLN: "I'm proud of the way my team raced, and I'm proud of the way I raced." ...   more »

The 2006 Tour de France for Floyd Landis has been a series of ups and downs. Unlike the well-directed affairs that marked the latter years of Lance Armstrong's domination, this has been more like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

Here's a recap of some events in Landis' Tour:

Prologue -- Landis loses 8-10 seconds as he shows up late to the podium. It turns out that the team mechanic had to change a cut tire at the last minute, rather than risk having a flat on the road. (9th place -- 9.26 seconds behind Thor Hushovd) ...   more »

American cyclist Floyd Landis has been riding bicycles provided by BMC at the 2006 Tour de France.

The bicycle Landis will likely ride to Paris on Sunday is this carbon BMC Pro Machine SLC01, specially tricked out in the colors of his yellow jersey. ...   more »

American Floyd Landis will ride to Paris in the yellow jersey on Sunday after finishing second in Saturday's individual time trial, unseating the two rivals ahead of him.

As the race for Paris is traditionally for a sprint win, not the overall title, Landis is destined to become the third American to win the Tour de France since Greg Lemond broke the barrier in 1986 and Lance Armstrong won a record 7 Tours between 1999 and 2005. ...   more »

After the emotional rollercoaster that is the Tour de France for Floyd Landis the past two days, Friday's Stage 18 was relatively uneventful.

Three cyclists attacked a 15-man breakaway about 10 miles from the finish in Macon. The three shadow-boxed for the last kilometer until Matteo Tosatto of QuickStep jumped and took the finish. ...   more »

I would have to go back to 1989, when I watched the taped broadcast of Greg Lemond's final-day victory over Laurent Fignon, to recall a more exciting stage of the Tour de France.

It seemed that even Floyd Landis had accepted defeat after his disasterous Stage 16 collapse. What happened Thursday wasn't a miracle, it was pure guts. Here's a sample of what's been said and written in the past 24 hours about Landis: ...   more »