Floyd Landis

Floyd Landis on the final stage of the 2006 Tour de France

Floyd Landis (born October 14, 1975 in Farmersville , Lancaster County , Pennsylvania ) is a former American cyclist , whose success at the Tour de France 2006 was stripped due to proven doping .

Career start and peak

Landis during the 2006 Tour of California

The son of a Mennonite family, he began his professional career with Mercury in 1999 . In 2002 he moved to the US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team , where he became one of Lance Armstrong's most important helpers in 2004 .

After a fall in January 2003, femoral head necrosis developed on the right side, which was only diagnosed on November 19, 2004. In the fall of 2006, Landis underwent an operation in which he received a new hip joint. Because of this hip problem, he was allowed to take cortisone , a drug that is on the doping list.

The Tour de France 2006 denied Landis for the Swiss Phonak Cycling Team , which he joined in of 2005. After his victories at the Tour of California , Paris-Nice and the Tour de Georgia , he was considered one of the favorites to win. On the 11th stage to Val d'Aran , he won the yellow jersey , which he then handed over to Óscar Pereiro without a fight on the 13th stage , who crossed the finish line with Jens Voigt almost 30 minutes before the peloton. He got it back on the 15th stage to L'Alpe d'Huez , but had a break-in the next day. Landis lost ten minutes, returning the lead to Óscar Pereiro Sio. The next day he won the 17th stage to Morzine single- handedly, which again made him seven minutes good and was in third place overall before the last three stages. After the 19th stage on July 22nd, he took on the yellow jersey again and was named the overall winner in Paris.

Doping affair

After the Tour de France 2006 it became known that Landis had tested positive for doping substances after his solo victory in the 17th stage . Landis initially denied doping. He tried to explain the increased testosterone levels, among other things, with alcohol consumption, with the cortisone injections for his hip problems (see above) and with the medication for his hypothyroidism . In 2006, a hacker attack took place on the French doping laboratory Châtenay-Malabry, for which Landis and his manager were convicted in 2011. Through this act, they gained access to internal documents and then sent falsified documents to sports associations, the IOC and journalists who were supposed to prove an accumulation of errors in the analysis of doping samples. The hearing before the USADA was scheduled for March 2007, but was later postponed to May 14, 2007, as was a hearing before the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD). Landis had recently announced that he would not take part in the 2007 Tour de France . The USADA had already commissioned additional tests of Landis' other B samples during the 2006 tour.

On May 14, 2007, the USADA's public hearing began in Malibu , California . Former cyclist and Tour de France winner Greg LeMond, who was invited as a witness, caused a scandal on the same day . It turned out that he had received extortionate calls through Will Geoghegan, manager and friend of Landis.

On September 20, 2007, Landis was stripped of his 2006 Tour victory by the UCI, the World Cycling Federation, after the American Arbitration Association's arbitration tribunal had suspended him until January 20, 2009, retrospectively for two years. This decision was confirmed by the CAS International Court of Justice in its judgment of June 30, 2008. Floyd Landis was thus finally deleted as the 2006 tour winner. The court also confirmed the doping ban and a six-figure fine.

Comeback and end of career

In 2009 he drove for the OUCH Maxxis team and took part in the California Tour . Landis originally wanted to compete for the Rock Racing team in the 2010 season . However, after this team had been denied the license by the Union Cycliste Internationale , he signed with the Team Bahati Foundation .

Almost four years after his Tour de France victory, on May 20, 2010, Landis - who started his campaign against the doping ban a. a. funded by donations from his fans - to have been doping for most of his career. He said he started doping in 2002 when he drove for the US Postal team . He also accused Lance Armstrong of having also taken performance-enhancing drugs.

On February 15, 2010, it became known that France had issued a national arrest warrant against Landis. The reason was that Landis had not appeared for a hearing in a court in Nanterre . The hearing concerned allegations that Landis had illegally obtained secret laboratory data from a French anti-doping laboratory. In September 2006 the laboratory's computer system was broken into, as a result of which the French anti-doping agency filed a criminal complaint against unknown persons.

In January 2011 Landis retired from professional cycling.