New York (Stati Uniti) - giovedì 20 maggio 2010 - Floyd Landis vuota il sacco, confessa che la sua carriera è stata basata e costruita sul doping, nonostante abbia sempre respinto le accuse, e tira in ballo Lance Armstrong vincitore di sette Tour de France e altri corridori, affermando che l'ex compagno di squadra lo introdusse all'uso del doping. L'ex professionista americano, al quale fu tolta la vittoria nel Tour de France 2006 per la positività al testosterone sintetico, avrebbe di recente inviato diverse e-mail - tra gli altri all'Unione ciclistica internazionale - nelle quali, scrive il Wall Street Journal e Espn.com, ammetterebbe l'utilizzo per lunghi periodi della sua carriera di varie sostanze e metodi vietati: dall'Epo all'ormone della crescita, dalle trasfusioni di sangue agli ormoni femminili, fino, in un'occasione, all'insulina.
Il tutto negli anni in cui gareggiava con il team statunitense Us Postal Service (dal 2002 al 2004) e poi con la svizzera Phonak (2005 e 2006). Nella Us Postal, Landis è stato compagno di squadra di Armstrong in tre delle sette vittorie conquistate da quest'ultimo al Tour de France. elle mail (giudicate autentiche da fonti vicine all'ex corridore) Landis farebbe i nomi di decine di altri corridori, di direttori sportivi e patron di diverse squadre, dicendosi disponibile a mettere a disposizione delle autorità antidoping americane i suoi diari e quaderni d'allenamento.
''Lui (Armstrong, ndr) ed io - ha scritto Landis in una e-mail al presidente della federciclismo statunitense, citata dal WSJ - ne parlavamo a lungo durante i nostri gli allenamenti. All'epoca mi spiegò anche l'evoluzione dei controlli sull'Epo e mi disse che le trasfusioni erano necessarie per poterli eluderli per via dei nuovi test''.
Le mail, inviate fra il 30 aprile e il 6 maggio, descrivono con minuzia di date e dettagli come Landis imparò a farsi trasfusioni di sangue, ad assumere l'Epo e a uno steroide liquido assunto per via orale. In particolare nel 2002 e 2003, i suoi primi due anni alla Us Postal Service, Landis racconta che fu l'allenatore di Armstrong, Johan Bruyneel, a istruirlo su doping del sangue e ormoni della crescita e poi ne discusse a lungo con lo stesso campione texano.
Nel 2003, a Girona, in Spagna, si fece prelevare nella stanza di Armstrong due sacche da mezzo litro di sangue da utilizzare per il Tour de France.
"Voglio avere la coscienza pulita e non voglio più essere parte del problema doping", le incredibili parole parole di Landis.
Da Armstrong e Bruyneel, per il momento, nessuna risposta ma a Espn.com Landis rincara la dose. "Col senno di poi e da una diversa prospettiva, mi rendo conto di aver fatto alcuni errori di giudizio - spiega - Non mi sento del tutto colpevole per essermi dopato, ho fatto quello che ho fatto perché è quello che noi corridori facevamo ed è una scelta che ho deciso di fare dopo 10 anni su 12 di duro lavoro".
Landis si è offerto di condividere i suoi appunti e i suoi diari con le autorità antidoping statunitensi, fornendo anche informazioni su come i corridori sono in grado di eludere i test.
CYCLIST FLOYD LANDIS ADMITS DOPING, ALLEGES USE BY ARMSTRONG AND OTHERS
By REED ALBERGOTTI And VANESSA O'CONNELL
Floyd Landis, the American cyclist whose 2006 Tour De France victory was nullified after a positive doping test, has sent a series of emails to cycling officials and sponsors admitting to, and detailing, his systematic use of performance enhancing drugs during his career. The emails also claim that other riders and cycling officials allegedly participated in doping, including seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.
It's unclear how many emails Mr. Landis sent. Three emails, which are dated between April 30 and May 6, have been reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Landis copied seven people on these three emails, including officials with USA Cycling and the International Cycling Union. Three people who have seen the emails and spoken to Mr. Landis about them say they are authentic.
Mr. Armstrong did not respond to messages seeking comment Wednesday evening. Mr. Armstrong has faced a number of doping accusations during his career, which he has denied. He has never been sanctioned.
Mr. Landis's charges couldn't be independently verified. Mr. Landis did not respond to a request for comment.
In the emails, he expressed frustration about the inability of antidoping officials to clean up the sport.
After the Tour De France stripped Mr. Landis of his 2006 victory for testing positive for elevated levels of testosterone after one crucial stage of the race, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency gave him a two-year ban from the sport. From the moment the positive test was revealed, Mr. Landis has denied publicly ever using performance enhancing drugs.
The emails are particularly focused on American riders. Mr. Landis said in them that during his career, he and other American riders learned how to conduct blood transfusions, take the synthetic blood booster Erythropoietin, or EPO, and use steroids. Mr. Landis said he started using testosterone patches, then progressed to blood transfusions, EPO, and a liquid steroid taken orally.
In one of the emails, dated April 30 and addressed to Stephen Johnson, the president of USA Cycling, Mr. Landis said that Mr. Armstrong's longtime coach, Johan Bruyneel, introduced Mr. Landis to the use of steroid patches, blood doping and human growth hormone in 2002 and 2003, his first two years on the U.S. Postal Service team. He alleged Mr. Armstrong helped him understand the way the drugs worked. "He and I had lengthy discussions about it on our training rides during which time he also explained to me the evolution of EPO testing and how transfusions were now necessary due to the inconvenience of the new test," Mr. Landis claimed in the email. He claimed he was instructed by Mr. Bruyneel how to use synthetic EPO and steroids and how to carry out blood transfusions that doping officials wouldn't be able to detect. Mr. Bruyneel and Mr. Johnson could not be reached for comment.
In the same email, Mr. Landis wrote that after breaking his hip in 2003, he flew to Girona, Spain—a training hub for American riders—and had two half-liter units of blood extracted from his body in three-week intervals to be used later during the Tour de France. The extraction, Mr. Landis claimed, took place in Mr. Armstrong's apartment, where blood bags belonging to Mr. Armstrong and his then-teammate George Hincapie were kept in a refrigerator in Mr. Armstrong's closet. Mr. Landis said he was asked to check the temperature of the blood daily. According to Mr. Landis, Mr. Armstrong left for a few weeks and asked Mr. Landis to make sure the electricity didn't go off and ruin the blood. George Hincapie, through a spokesman, denied the allegations.
In the email sent on April 30 to Mr. Johnson, Mr. Landis said that in 2006, after leaving the U.S. Postal Service team for a team sponsored by Swiss hearing aide manufacturer Phonak, he said he told Andy Rihs, the team's owner, that he had been involved in a blood doping program in the past with his old team and wanted to continue doing so with Phonak. He said Mr. Rihs, who is the chairman of Sonova Holding AG, the Switzerland-based parent company for Phonak, agreed to pay for the same doping operations at Phonak. After Mr. Landis's positive test—which was for testosterone and not blood doping—the team disbanded in 2006. Mr. Rihs and a Sonova spokesman could not be reached for comment.
In addition to these allegations, Mr. Landis's emails called current anti-doping efforts "a charade," detailed how to use EPO without getting caught and claimed he helped former teammates Levi Leipheimer and Dave Zabriskie take EPO before one Tour of California race. Mr. Leipheimer and Mr. Zabriskie could not be reached for comment.
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