Miss Tour de France 2005

"Australia's Bradley McGee will miss the Tour de France for a second year in a row because of an ongoing problem with the herniated disc in his back.

McGee, who spectacularly won the prologue of the centenary Tour in 2003 with the slimmest of margins over Britain's David Millar, had been hoping to get back on the world's biggest race after missing out last year.

But despite appearing to be on the road to recovery from his back problem McGee said he has been "forced to face reality".

A statement on the 31-year-old Sydneysider's website explained: "It is time to face facts and realise the band aid treatment of my sciatica problem is not going to support my professional cycling ambitions."

Al Jazeera English - Sport - Le Tour Want Riis Yellow Jersey

"World cycling chiefs have called on Bjarne Riis, Denmark's only winner of the Tour de France, to hand back the yellow jersey he won in 1996 after the cyclist ended years of speculation over his involvement in doping by admitting on Friday that he had used the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin) between 1993 and 1998 while racing with Telekom."

FOX Sports on MSN - More Sports - Landis time bomb could explode during Tour

"'The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.'
— Mark Antony in William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar
The moment the United States Anti-Doping Agency's hearing to determine whether 2006 Tour de France champion Floyd Landis doped with synthetic testosterone concluded, a time bomb with a six-week long fuse was lit.
Six weeks is the minimum amount of time it will take for the three arbiters judging the case to arrive at a decision, meaning that the ruling will likely be handed down smack dab in the middle of the 2007 Tour de France."

Landis’s Testimony Focuses on Phone Call and Fashion - New York Times

"Floyd Landis, who spent the past 10 months preparing to answer charges that he tested positive for synthetic testosterone when he won last year’s Tour de France, took the stand Tuesday against the United States Anti-Doping Agency and found that his character was as much under attack as his drug tests.
Matt Barnett, a USADA lawyer, cross-examined Landis for almost two hours Tuesday at Pepperdine University’s School of Law. Less than 45 minutes of the cross-examination had anything to do with performance-enhancing drugs."

Under Oath, Landis Denies Having Used Testosterone - New York Times

"After five days of dense scientific testimony, revelations of sexual abuse and allegations of blackmail, Floyd Landis finally spoke at his own hearing.

Landis said under oath Saturday what he has been saying in every other forum for the past 10 months: that he never of you guys need closers. I have four frontline closers w saves now used performance-enhancing drugs, even though he tested positive for synthetic testosterone when he won last year’s Tour de France.

“It’s a matter of who I am,” Landis told the three arbitrators who will decide his case against the United States Anti-Doping Agency. “It wouldn’t serve any purpose to cheat to win the Tour because I wouldn’t be proud of it."

Helena Independent Record

"Floyd Landis' sleepy, scientific arbitration hearing morphed into a pulp-fiction blockbuster Thursday, replete with revelations of sexual abuse, allegations of threatening phone calls and even a Donald Trump-style firing.

It came courtesy of Landis' fellow American Tour de France champion Greg LeMond, who disclosed he had been sexually abused as a child and received a call Wednesday from Landis' manager who threatened to reveal the secret if LeMond showed up to testify.

Shortly after LeMond dropped those bombshells, the manager, Will Geoghegan, walked up to LeMond, apologized and admitted he made the call, LeMond said. Which led to 'You're fired' _ the message Landis attorney Maurice Suh gave to Geoghegan while they were still standing in the hearing room."

Busted, you cheater!

Basso quits after new dope allegations - Sport - theage.com.au

Basso quits after new dope allegations - Sport - theage.com.au:






"THE future of cycling star and Tour de France favourite Ivan Basso is hanging by a thread after his team, Discovery Channel, announced it had parted company with the Italian.
Basso, one of dozens implicated in the Operation Puerto doping affair, was suspended last week after the Italian Olympic Committee called on him to this week answer doping charges.
Basso, 29, initially had been cleared by the committee, which said there was not enough evidence to sanction him. Discovery said then it stood by the Giro d'Italia winner, who was to lead the team's bid to win the Tour de France."