Jul 28, 2006, 18:59 GMT
Madrid - Tour de France winner Floyd Landis on Friday insisted that he had not participated in any illegal doping processes and that the high testosterone levels revealed in urine sample last week were natural.
Tour de France winner Floyd Landis on Friday, 28 July 2006, insisted that he had not participated in any illegal doping processes and that the high testosterone levels revealed in urine sample last week were natural. "I would like to make absolutely clear that I am not in any doping process," said Landis, who vowed to undergo whatever tests were necessary to clear his name. Landis was speaking at a press conference broadcast from Madrid where he said he was meeting with doctors and lawyers to counter theallegations which surfaced on Thursday. EPA/KIKO HUESCA
'I would like to make absolutely clear that I am not in any doping process,' said Landis, who vowed to undergo whatever tests were necessary to clear his name.
'I declare convincingly and categorically that my winning of the Tour de France has been completely and exclusively due to my years of training and devotion to cycling,' he said.
Landis was speaking at a press conference broadcast from Madrid where he said he was meeting with doctors and lawyers to counter the allegations which surfaced on Thursday.
Landis tested positive after his spectacular stage victory in Morzine last week, when he launched an epic solo attack to claw back eight minutes from his main competitors after imploding in a mountain stage a day earlier.
The ride, which was described as one of the greatest in the history of the tour, set Landis up to become the third ever American to win the tour after Greg Le Monde and Lance Armstrong.
If the doping allegations are upheld in the analysis of a second sample taken the same day, Landis is likely to become the first ever winner of the tour to be stripped of his title, sending the troubled sport even deeper into a doping crisis.
But Landis insisted that the high levels of testosterone in his system were naturally occurring and said that he would immediately request analysis of the B sample where his own representatives could observe the testing.
'In the same way that other sportsmen have done this, I intend to undergo tests to prove that the levels I have are completely natural and produced by my own organisms,' he said.
Landis revealed that he had been tested on six previous occasions on the tour and 14 times during the season and had come up clean every time.
'I was equally surprised (at the result) as everyone else was,' he said. 'I am confident as ever and I am proud that I won the tour because I was the strongest guy there.'
Doping experts have also expressed surprise at the test results because testosterone has a long term presence in the blood stream and is not effective in providing the immediate performance boost that could have explained Landis' dramatic comeback on the stage to Morzine.
Landis, who revealed he was taking cortisone injections for a hip ailment that now requires hip replacement surgery, said he intends to continue competing depending on when his surgery is scheduled.
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