US Postal Service Team investigations
In May of this year, when Floyd Landis admitted to doping after four years of denial and the stripping of his Tour de France victory in 2006, his took the ship down with him.
Landis alleged that former team mate Lance Armstrong, seven-time Tour de France winner, was party to the doping practices, and implicated the US Postal Service Team, which Landis rode on with Armstrong from 2002-2004.
Since the team was funded by a government organization, the allegations have sparked a federal investigation led by Jeff Novitsky of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Three-time Tour de France stage winner David Millar, who was banned from professional cycling for two years for confirmed doping, shrugged off the allegations as bitterness on Landis’ part.
"If [Landis] had stood up and manned up four years ago, he'd be racing the Tour de France now,” said Millar, who rode in the 2010 Tour de France with Garmin-Transitions. “He'd have a different book out. He'd have not lost a penny. He'd be admired by young people. He would have a different life ahead of him.”
The investigations by the FDA and the World Anti-Doping Agency have taken a new turn with the announcement that an anonymous former member of the US Postal Service team has told American federal investigators that he had been involved in systematic doping practices within the team. The anonymous cyclist has said he never tested positive, and he will not be called before the grand jury in the case.
According to the New York Times, cyclist Tyler Hamilton has appeared before the grand jury in Los Angeles. Hamilton has been served with an eight-year ban for drug use last year, his second suspension after being caught blood doping in 2004. Armstrong-supporter George Hincapie is also expected to appear.
“They just want to incriminate Lance Armstrong and that’s my concern,” said Bryan D. Daly, Armstrong’s attorney. “If Lance Armstrong came in second in those Tour de France races, there’s no way that Lance Armstrong would be involved in these cases. I think that the concern is that they are caught up in the pursuit of a celebrity to catch him in a lie.”
Armstrong is currently occupied with the founding of the Quiznos Pro Challenge, a Colorado-based American stage race which will debut August 22-28, 2011. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has prominently categorized it as a 2.1 event. Armstrong’s LiveStrong foundation is expected to be closely involved with the tour.
Another former US Postal rider and member of Armstrong’s new Team RadioShack, Levi Leipheimer, has become involved in the doping implications as well, though not by Landis’ hand. Leipheimer’s former manager Hans-Michael Holczer has claimed that the blood tests performed on Leipheimer during the 2005 Tour de France, though they weren’t above the limit, “showed a very high probability of manipulation.”
Leipheimer will be competing in the 2010 Tour of Utah, which begins on August 17, with the weight of the accusations on his shoulders.
“Racers of Levi’s calibre enhance the competition on the course and his participation speaks volumes about the professionalism and reputation of the Tour of Utah,” said Steve Miller, the race president. “We have captured the attention of the best cyclists in the world and we plan to make sure their experience here is a good one.”
The accusations presented by Holczer at the launch of his book “Guaranteed Positive” suggested that Leipheimer doped in 2005, when he finished sixth overall in the Tour de France, won by Armstrong.
The allegations of systematic doping on US Postal would have Leipheimer implicated in 2000-2001, which would make the three-time Tour of California winner very skilled at keeping it under wraps.
Holczer never went public with his suspicions in 2005 because he knew that Gerolsteiner, the sponsor, would back out immediately from such a scandal and the team would be forced to disband and he “would have gone totally bankrupt.” The team eventually did disband for that reason, when three members of the team tested positive for a blood-booster in 2008.
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