Excerpt from Yahoo sports:

"The Phonak statement came a day after the UCI, cycling's world governing body, said an unidentified rider had failed a drug test during the Tour.

Phonak said Landis would ask for an analysis of his backup sample "to prove either that this result is coming from a natural process or that this is resulting from a mistake."

Phonak said Landis has been suspended and that he will be fired if the second sample confirms the initial finding.

USA Cycling spokesman Andy Lee said that organization could not comment on Landis.

"Because it's an anti-doping matter, it's USA Cycling's policy not to comment on that subject out of respect for the process and Floyd's rights," Lee said. "Right now, we have to let the process proceed and we can't comment on it."

Carla O'Connell, publications and communications director for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, said: "I'll make this very brief: No comment."

UCI spokesman Enrico Carpani said Landis was notified of the test Wednesday morning. He said the cycling body doesn't require analysis of the "B" sample, but that Landis requested it.

"We are confident in the first (test)," Carpani said. "For us, the first one is already good."

Under World Anti-Doping Agency regulations, a ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone greater than 4:1 is considered a positive result and subject to investigation. The threshold was recently lowered from 6:1. The most likely natural ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone in humans is 1:1.

Testosterone is included as an anabolic steroid on WADA's list of banned substances, and its use can be punished by a two-year ban."

I see the cycling posse is circling the wagons. Firstly, it is not wild speculation. If the winner of the Tour De France tests positive, it's news. His A sample test came back suspect and now, at Landis and his teams's request, they will test the B sample and we will see. What is wild is all the hysterical nonsense about the French, European press and legal system.

“The Phonak Cycling Team was notified yesterday by the UCI about an unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone ratio in the test made on Floyd Landis after stage 17 of the Tour de France,” the team said in a statement, referring to the international cycling union. “The team management and the rider were both totally surprised of this physiological result.”

King's "mistake" is quite understandable. Btw, check out Greg's Lemond's statement on Yahoo. he's certainly not pulling any punches.

The Palmero comparison might be slightly off but it's not sloppy and it's certainly not libel. Why did he continue to take steriods KNOWING that MLB was testing and KNOWING that he would be tested because he was in the eye of the storm because of his congressional testimony? As far as Landis, if he did do it, it's easy to understand. The day before he cracked and fell down the leaderboard. The next stage was his last real chance to make a move. If you've trained all your life and had a chance to grab your sports ultimate title KNOWING that this might be your only chance because you're scheduled for hip replacement surgery shortly after the race, test or not, the temptation to do so is understandable.

"I distinctly remember not really being able to enjoy the shocking home-track win of Fani Halkia, the Greek hurdler, at the 2004 Olympics, because it seemed likely to me that she'd test positive -- which she didn't."

And I still think that it was one of the more suspect results in recent memory.

It's a different picture because it's a different story. It's not surprising Christian refugees from Southern Lebanon would denounce Hezbollah nor is it much of a surprise that the "hiding among civilians" stuff is a myth or, more accurately, purposeful propaganda. It is amazing how fast the anti-semitism card was played in an attempt to try and take attention away from the debunking of that line of propaganda.

"Throughout this now 16-day-old war, Israeli planes high above civilian areas make decisions on what to bomb. They send huge bombs capable of killing things for hundreds of meters around their targets, and then blame the inevitable civilian deaths -- the Lebanese government says 600 civilians have been killed so far -- on "terrorists" who callously use the civilian infrastructure for protection.

But this claim is almost always false. My own reporting and that of other journalists reveals that in fact Hezbollah fighters -- as opposed to the much more numerous Hezbollah political members, and the vastly more numerous Hezbollah sympathizers -- avoid civilians. Much smarter and better trained than the PLO and Hamas fighters, they know that if they mingle with civilians, they will sooner or later be betrayed by collaborators -- as so many Palestinian militants have been. "

You well know the author was using that as an example to illustrate an exception rather than the normal course. It's a standard techniqse. You first give an example of what is, in this case, common propaganda, and then illustrate it's not the norm.