Could two of cycling's biggest rivals be joining forces?

In an interview with Swiss tabloid newspaper Blick, Jan Ullrich said he has had informal talks with Lance Armstrong's Discovery team, but that no formal agreement was made.

Jan Ullrich
Ullrich

The comments came on the same day Ullrich met with T-Mobile management, the same group that fired the German rider last week via fax after he was banned from this year's Tour de France for being implicated in a Spanish doping probe. Ullrich has protested his innocence since the ban was handed down.

"I have always said I will finish with a Tour victory," Ullrich told Blick. "Unfortunately, this year I was prevented from doing so. That's why I will try to add another year."

If Ullrich signed on with Discovery, it would indirectly pair two of cycling's biggest rivals. Armstrong has been long credited as being the foil in Ullrich's Tour de France plans as the German has finished second overall to the American five times in the last seven years.

Whether Ullrich signs with Discovery, or any other team for that matter, weighs on his meetings with T-Mobile.

T-Mobile team spokesman Christian Frommert said Tuesday: "There were talks in Bonn, the lawyers met. It was a very good and constructive meeting. We agreed to not comment on the content. We fixed the date for the next meeting. There is no agreement yet but it was constructive and there will be more meetings."

He added: "[Jan's ability to sign with another team] depends on the outcome of these meetings. He was dismissed, now it is a question of what comes out of these meetings.

"Once it is cleared up, then of course other teams can make him an offer, but the question is whether from a sports law point of view he can ride. That is outside of our remit."

Anti-doping tests conducted during the recently completed 93rd Tour de France have turned up an "adverse analytical finding," the UCI confirmed Wednesday.

The name of the rider will not be released to the public until further tests are conducted. The rider and their team, national doping and cycling federations as well as the World-Anti Doping Agency have been notified.

Under anti-doping rules, a second "B" sample will be tested to confirm the results. If both samples come up positive, the rider will face sanctions for a failed doping test. If the "B" sample comes back negative, no sanction will be imposed.

The UCI said it received a report Wednesday from the anti-doping laboratory in Paris noting the "A" sample positive taken during the 2006 Tour, but did not divulge more details.

"The adverse analytical finding received this morning relates to the first analysis, and will have to be confirmed either by a counter-analysis required by the rider, or by the fact that the rider renounces to that counter analysis," the UCI said in a statement.

"The World Anti-doping Code and the Anti-doping Rules of the UCI do not allow to make the name of the concerned rider public, as well as other information that may allow identification ..." the statement added.

The test was carried out by France's national anti-doping laboratory at Chatenay-Malabry.

UCI president Pat McQuaid told AFP he would be dismayed if the test was confirmed but vowed no let-up in the war on drug cheats.

"From my point of view it's intolerable and we're determined to root out this problem and deal with it," Mcquaid said in a telephone interview. "At the moment I'm concerned over the A sample result. If the B sample turns out to be positive, I'll be angry."

This year's Tour was rocked by a drugs scandal on the eve of the race which saw 13 riders, including pre-race favourites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso, barred from taking part after they were implicated in a Spanish blood-doping ring.

It was the latest in a series of high-profile drugs controversies to tarnish cycling over the past decade, with the Tour de France being particularly hard hit.

Cycling analyst John Eustice thinks Floyd Landis' testosterone test could be a false positive. Landis' testosterone levels were low; just the ratio was off. Landis' cortisone shots or beer drinking could affect that, Eustice said on The Dan Patrick Show.

By LINDSEY TANNER"
AP Medical Writer!

Questions about possible banned steroid use by Tour De France champion Floyd Landis were raised in a urine test that spots elevated levels of performance-enhancing testosterone.

The test detects both testosterone and a related steroid called epitestosterone, which is not performance-enhancing. Both are produced by the body and are also made in synthetic form.

Landis’ team said his urine sample showed “an unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone” when he was tested after his amazing come-from-behind performance in stage 17 of the race last Thursday.

The usual ratio for both substances is about 1:1 or 2:1, said Dr. Gary Wadler, a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency and a spokesman for the American College of Sports Medicine.

Suspicions for improper steroid use arise when the ratio climbs above 4 parts testosterone over 1 part epitestosterone, Wadler said. Officials have not said what ratio Landis’ test showed.

Athletes who use performance-enhancing anabolic steroids often also take synthetic epitestosterone to equalize the ratio, said Charles Yesalis, a recently retired Pennsylvania State University professor and doping expert.

There is no medical use for synthetic epitestosterone; it is used “to cheat drug tests,” Yesalis said.

Testosterone creams, pills and injections can build muscle and strength and improve recovery time after exertion when used over a period of several weeks, Wadler said. But if Landis had been a user, his earlier urine tests during the tour would have been affected, too, Wadler said, and Thursday’s was the first reported abnormal result.

One-time use of steroids could result in an abnormal test, but it would have no effect on performance and could not account for Landis’ astounding feat Thursday. “So something’s missing here,” Wadler said. “It just doesn’t add up.”

Alcohol can influence testosterone-epitestosterone levels, but more often in women than in men and it would be unlikely to have a huge effect, Wadler said.

Some men have naturally occurring high levels of testosterone and/or epitestosterone, but there is a sophisticated lab test called a carbon isotope ratio test that is often used to detect synthetic forms.

Landis said in an interview during the Tour de France that he has had injections of cortisone, a medically used steroid drug to treat pain from a degenerating arthritic hip, but doctors said that would not affect his test results.

The typical procedure for urine-testing of athletes involves taking two samples at the same time and bottling them separately. The “A” sample is tested first, and if it is normal the “B” sample is discarded. If the “A” sample shows elevated testosterone levels, the “B” sample is tested, and its results are used to confirm use of a banned substance, Wadler said.

The same “B” sample is also often subjected to the carbon isotope test, said Dr. Don Catlin, director of a World Anti-Doping Association-accredited Olympic lab at UCLA.

Landis’ Phonak team suspended him pending results of the backup “B” sample.

Landis claims naturally high testosterone

Associated Press

7/28/2006 12:26:33 PM

MADRID, Spain (AP) - Floyd Landis said the high testosterone levels that caused him to fail a drug test at the Tour de France are the result of his natural metabolism - not doping of any kind - and he will undergo tests to prove it.

"We will explain to the world why this is not a doping case but a natural occurrence," Landis said Friday in his first public appearance since the doping test cast doubt on his title, one of the most stirring comeback wins in Tour history.

Landis said in a teleconference Thursday that he had no idea what may have tripped the test following the race's 17th stage, where he made his heroic charge into the Alps last week.

But on Friday he was adamant that the reading is the result of his natural physiology.

"I would like to make absolutely clear that I am not in any doping process," Landis said. "I ask not to be judged by anyone, much less sentenced by anyone."

Landis is still awaiting results from a backup sample, which will clear him if it comes back negative. He said Friday that he would undergo additional testing to show that his body produces a high level of testosterone naturally.

If ultimately proven guilty, he could be stripped of the Tour title and fired from the team. Switzerland-based Phonak said it would ask that the backup sample be tested in the next few days.

The team suspended Landis after the International Cycling Union notified it Wednesday that he had an "unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone" when his test was taken last Thursday, the day he staked his comeback in the Alps.

Landis said he was shocked when told of the initial positive result. He said he had been tested six other times during the tour, and many other times during the year.

His voice was subdued and at times downcast on the Thursday call, when he said he expected to clear his name but never to truly shake the disgrace of doping. But Landis turned defiant in his Friday appearance, chastising the media for implying that he was accused of doping and defending himself as an honest competitor who devoted his life to his sport.

"I declare convincingly and categorically that my winning the Tour de France has been exclusively due to many years of training and my complete devotion to cycling," he said. "I was the strongest guy. I deserved to win, and I'm proud of it."

"I don't want to pass judgment until we have confirmation on the 'A' sample," Armstrong said. "I'm not going to speculate; you can get Greg LeMond to go on the air and speculate. I'm not going to do that. ... I'm not going south like Greg does. I believe in the sport, I'm a fan of it and I love it."

Tests show that some of the testosterone in Floyd Landis' system at the Tour de France was synthetic and not naturally produced by his body as he claimed, according to a newspaper report.

The French antidoping lab testing the American cyclist's samples determined that some of the hormone came from an external source, The New York Times reported on its Web site Monday night, citing a person at the International Cycling Union with knowledge of the result.

The finding undermines the defense that Landis has stood behind since he tested positive for an elevated ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone following the 17th stage of the Tour de France, where he staged a stirring comeback in the Alps to make up for a poor performance the day before.

Looking and sounding defiant, Landis said Friday that his body's natural metabolism -- not doping of any kind -- caused the result, and that he would undergo tests to prove it.

"We will explain to the world why this is not a doping case but a natural occurrence," Landis said at a news conference in Madrid, Spain.

But after determining that Landis's ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone was more than twice the limit of 4:1, the lab performed a carbon isotope ratio test on the first of Landis's two urine samples, the person told the Times.

That test determines whether the testosterone it is natural or synthetic.

Landis officially requested the testing of his backup urine sample Monday for an elevated testosterone ratio. If the "B" test is negative, Landis would be cleared. If it's positive, which Landis' lawyers say they expect, he could be stripped of his Tour victory and banned for two years.

The Times reported that Landis was in New York on Monday night and could not be reached for comment.