Floyd Landis – Tour De France
Floyd Landis is a Tour De France cyclist who hails from Farmersville, Pennsylvania. He was born on October 14, 1975, and he won the 2006 race. Interestingly, his title was taken away from him because he was accused of doping! In the 2010 Tour De France, Floyd Landis rides with the Bahati Foundation Pro Cycling Team. But before this year, he was with OUCH Pro Cycling Team.
Floyd Landis has several skills he brings with him to the French cycling race. He can be good at climbing as well as in time trial contests. When he descends from a climb, he can also be very fast! His first foray into professional cycling was in 1999 when he joined the Mercury Cycling Team. Landis’ career is pretty interesting. You see, in January 2010, Floyd Landis received a national warrant of arrest because of charges of computer hacking, which was related to the doping allegations directed against him back in 2006.
The Tour of California was inaugurated in 2006 in response to the France race. After he won the former, he went to the Tour De France and grabbed Yellow Jersey from the rest of the cyclist wannabes. Sadly, however, he could not hold on to his yellow jersey after authorities found out about the presence of a performance-enhancement drug in his body in stage 17. He was immediately fired from the Phonak Team.
Although the evidence was against him, Floyd Landis insists, even now that he is innocent. The legal team that handles his case says that there were inconsistencies in the evaluation and actual handling of his urine samples! Yet, no matter what they do, the decision of the cycling authorities was upheld.
After a hearing and arbitration panel in September 2007, he was suspended from professional cycling competitions up to January 30, 2009. He tried to appeal the ruling and took it to the Court of Arbitration for Sport but he had no luck-the decision to suspend him was affirmed and upheld.
Since he could not compete, Landis became an adviser for rock racing. After the suspension was lifted, he joined OUCH Pro Cycling Team and then left them in 2009. Probably in desperation, or perhaps he was already tired of subterfuge, Landis finally admitted on May 20, 2010, that he did take performance-enhancing drugs, in other words, he was continually doping. He even said that even the top cyclists on his team also doped! Such a big assertion, which could also damage the reputation of other cyclists!
