Although I’m sure he would have preferred his return trip to be under different circumstances, this is the way the cookie is crumbling: Floyd Landis has been summoned to Paris.

Landis has been summoned to a hearing of the French anti-doping agency, AFLD, scheduled for February 8. He’s awaiting a hearing of the American counterpart (USADA), but unlike that hearing - which will decide whether he’ll be sanctioned - the AFLD hearing “will only decide whether Landis will be allowed to compete in France.” First of all, the choice of the word “only” in that sentence is eye-rollingly bad, and secondly, even if he’s cleared by the USADA he could still be prohibited from racing in the Tour de France by the AFLD. What the hell is up with that?

Yes, each country should probably be able to govern its own races, allowing in who it wants and prohibiting who it wants. And at the same time, if someone is cleared by other governing bodies, how can they be excluded? Isn’t there some over-arching organization to whom all the other ones have to answer? If not, that seems like a recipe for disaster.