As has been noted, the process here is completely $&%#'d!

Landis has pulled out of races and appearances, while having his reputation tarred. Even if the second sample clears him, he has still been punished, and many will always believe he was guilty.

The process itself hurts cycling as it suggests the sport is dirty to casual observers, even when it isn't.

The reporting of this story has been abysmal. There is a lot of "truthiness" and not a lot of facts.

Someone here stated that Landis had a t/e ratio of 4:1 and this was suspect given the normal value is 1:1. That is not correct. The natural range of t/e ratios goes up to and over 6:1. In fact, approximately 1% of the adult male population has a t/e of 6:1 or higher. The cited 4:1 ratio is only suspicious in context of other t/e values Landis has produced. The impression that I get from reading comments from cyclists and enthusiasts is that this t/e test has a fairly large false positive tendency.

As far as what his real test value was, I've heard 4:1 here and 11:1 elsewhere. Interestingly enough, it is my understanding that Landis's actual testosterone level was the normal range. The high ratio was due to a lower than normal epitestosterone value.

The NYT article (by Juliet Macur) seems to suggest that the t/e value is a screening value used to decide if a more exhaustive test needs to be run. This backup test (GC-IRMS) attempts to discover the origin of the "excess" testosterone. This is different from the implication here (and elsewhere) that the next test would be another t/e ratio from the "backup" sample. It is not at all clear whether both of these tests have been run and that the testosterone has been found to be of a "foreign" origin. If that were true, there would be good reason to suspect he cheated. But again, it is not clear that this is the case.

Finally, even L'Equipe, the French magazine that sponsors the Tour and has relished bashing Lance Armstrong, notes that testosterone could not explain the spectacular Stage 17 that Landis had. They noted that testosterone affects performance over days and weeks in a gradual fashion--not like speed or RBC doping which give an immediate boost to performance.

"But at some point, the constant beat of the drug scandals is going to damage the sport's reputation beyond repair"

You mean like the "the constant beat" of steroid junkie football and baseball players? Oh my, what will we do about the National Pasttime and the Flab Monster bowls when there is drug testing after each baseball series or football game? "C'mon Barry, you can't leave the park until you fill the cup." Give me a break. The stupidity of any athlete to think that they can get away with cheating with doping is only matched by the provincial ignorant American attitude that their precious sports that nobody else in the world cares about are so much more "legitimate" than anything else. What do you think baseball's and football's reputations are like everywhere else? It's not about "THE SPORT", but about people who won't play fair. That's it. I only wish the whining millionaires in the player associations would remember that.

Jim Hall

I want to know how the hell Europeans, especially the French, would know what a WINNER's testosterone level should be.

How many times has Landis been tested in the past? Any other times at this Tour? Have previous tests ever shown an elevated ratio like this one? If he has a naturally high ratio, would that not have been indicated by previous tests? If not, that defense rings hollow.

I'm not a Tour fan, or a big cycling fan, but I think its sad, in any sport, to find out someone who did the impossible actually mostly had the help of drugs. The people here who act like proformance enhancers are no big deal are crazy. Of course users are still good, but they can not be proven to be the best, which is a HUGE distinction. What's the problem with that? Well, its kind of the whole freaking point of athletic competition! Its not that I think entire sports should be all-consumed with drug enhancing use, but if think it really doesn't matter, why do you even bother watching real people compete, why not just set up the Super Bowl on Madden and watch that?

Let's not jump to conclusions. If you read readily available information about the tests for blood levels of testoterone you would read that hyperthyroidism and corticosteroids used to reduce inflammation of joints (esp. hips)can raise testoterone levels. Of course their are some scary medical conditions which can cause elevated testosterone levels (adrenal and testicular tumors). And it is possible that high levels of stress or sdrenaline can also increase testoterone. It just doesn't make sense to me that that Flandis would suddenly take a drug which can't produce any benefit in one day.

Why anybody would spend more time on the issue than I'm going to, I can't figure out. It's just an over-hyped bike race, and athletes who "dope up" are hurting nobody but themselves - if they're even hurting themselves. Which they're probably NOT, with testosterone.

Other athletes can't compete if Landis or Armstrong cheats, you say?

I repeat: who gives a crap?

People are dying in Lebanon and Iraq, hundreds of thousands die in US hospitals from preventable infections, and somebody's wasting ink on steroids in SPORTS?

Ridiculous.

The first sample is the one to announce an irregularity. The second sample is held on file in case the athlete questions the veraciry of the test. While he or she is not present in the testing lab while the A sample is being analyzed, he or she has the right to be present or have an agent representing them during the B test. With the sums of money avaible to winning professionel athletes it is not beyond belief that they may enhance their performance with questionable practices, say drugs. Happens around the world including the US.