Landis Volunteers to Stay Home for 2007 Tour

No Comments | February 8th, 2007 | Trackback

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Well, I’m not surprised - especially as he’d already said he’d pretty much written this year off - but here’s the news anyway: Floyd Landis has agreed to not race in the Tour de France this year. In return, the French anti-doping agency (AFLD) has said they’ll postpone their disciplinary hearing which had been scheduled for tomorrow. Apparently, Landis wants to defend himself in front of the home team (the US Anti-Doping Agency) first, and that hearing isn’t scheduled until May.

I know the US system of justice, that old “innocent until proven guilty” thing, doesn’t really work in these cases. If riders who are under investigation - but not yet convicted - are allowed to ride, the entire media (and athlete) focus will be on those riders, rather than on the race. And if those riders are later convicted, trophy presentations could turn out to be meaningless. Who wants to be sent a yellow jersey by FedEx when your 2nd place finish becomes 1st place months after the presentation in Paris?

And yet the way things are now, many riders who are being investigated find themselves teamless and therefore dealing with a de facto suspension, even before they’ve had a hearing (much less a full-blown trial). Is there a happy medium? I have no idea.

There are excerpts of the letter Landis sent to the AFLD in this article, along with AFLD’s response.