say it isn't so, Floyd

On Wednesday it was announced that a rider in the Tour has tested positive in his A sample. Also on Wednesday, Floyd did not appear at a post-Tour criterium in the Netherlands he was scheduled to appear at, citing his hip problem. Needless to say, this has raised all kinds of speculation that Floyd is the rider in question. Time will tell, I suppose. In the mean time, let's hope this turns out to be a case of the media jumping to conclusions.

See the stories at cyclingnews.com and VeloNews.

Update:

Phonak confirms Landis positive (courtesy of cyclingnews.com)

The Phonak team has confirmed the speculation that Floyd Landis returned a positive A sample after his win in stage 17 of the Tour de France. "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," said the team in a statement. "The team management and the rider were both totally surprised of this physiological result.

"The rider will ask in the upcoming days for the counter analysis to prove either that this result is coming from a natural process or that this is resulting from a mistake in the confirmation. In application of the Pro Tour Ethical Code, the rider will not race anymore until this problem is totally clear.

"If the result of the B sample analysis confirms the result of the A sample, the rider will be dismissed and will then pass the corresponding endocrinological examinations."

Meanwhile, Floyd's Mom also believes that Floyd's astonishing ride on stage 17 benefitted from some "external" assistance. But she attributes God, not testosterone, for his superhuman breakaway.

I don't know what to say. I confess that I have no idea how the science behind all of this works. I hope those guys in the lab know what they're doing. I sheepishly admit that I hope this will all sort itself out yet, but I admit to feeling more than a little naive in saying that.

Having said that, it's noteworthy that several of the riders implicated in Operacion Puerto have been officially cleared of any involvement. It appears they were wrongly booted from the Tour. See the letter from Allan Davis, who was one of those riders barred from racing:

As you all know, I was forced to not take part in this year's Tour de France after being named in a list of riders that are implicated in the Operacion Puerto.

I have been wrongly named in this list. I do not know Dr Fuentes, I have never spoken to Dr Fuentes either in person or on the phone and I have never had any reason to want to meet Dr Fuentes. I have requested a copy of the documents which are meant to implicate me, but to date I am still not sure how and in what way I am meant to be implicated.

To date, I have preferred to be silent and wait for justice to prove that I have nothing to do with Operacion Puerto. I am now over this whole situation. I thought it was finally over last Thursday when the Judge of the Operation Puerto sent a certified letter stating that my teammates from the Tour de France and I have nothing to do with proceedings in Madrid. I now find that my team can not include me in the upcoming races as the UCI have stated that I am still part of their investigation.

I invite or even demand that the UCI, ACF, Spanish Judicial system or whoever needs to, carry out a DNA test to finally clear my name from all of this. I understand that this is my choice and every individual is free to do whatever he feels he needs to do.

Should the DNA test prove that I am associated to this case, I will hang up my cycling shoes the day after and head home to Bundaberg and start looking for a normal job.

All of this is very frustrating when all I want to do is ride my bike and be able to make a living for my wife, kids and myself.

Allan Davis.