Thursday, May 20, 2010

Landis Admits Cheating

Maybe you recall the 2006 Tour de France where Floyd Landis, after cracking on the Alpe de Huez, made an incredible solo breakaway on Stage 17 and ultimately won the race. He was accused of doping and stripped of the win, but strenuously maintained his innocence and denied ever doping, even writing a book titled Positively False: The Real Story of How I Won the Tour de France.I was convinced by his denial and he seemed like a victim of a crazy sport where innocence could not be proven.

He just admitted to lying all along.
The New York Times: Landis provided detailed information about his own doping practices, saying he consistently used the blood-booster EPO to increase his endurance, testosterone, human growth hormone and blood transfusions.

He said he took female hormones and tried insulin once during the years he rode for the Postal Service and Swiss-based Phonak teams, according to ESPN.com. He spent $90,000 a year on his doping regimen, he said.

How flat-out depressing. Isn't anybody honest anymore? Wouldn't it have been better to never have won a single bicycle race in your life than go down in history as one of the biggest sports cheaters and liars of all time, even if you weren't caught cheating?

I mean, even if you won after cheating, how could you live with yourself? I guess Landis couldn't. At least that's something.

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