Test Said to Show Synthetic Testosterone in Landis’s Body

August 1, 2006

Test Said to Show Synthetic Testosterone in Landis's Body
By JULIET MACUR

Tests performed on the cyclist Floyd Landis's initial urine sample showed that some of the testosterone in his body had come from an external source, and was not naturally produced by his own system, according to a person at the International Cycling Union with knowledge of the results.

That finding contradicts what Landis has claimed in his defense since the disclosure last week that he had tested positive for an elevated ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone after his decisive performance in Stage 17 of the Tour de France.

During a news conference in Madrid on Friday, Landis said: "We will explain to the world why this is not a doping case, but a natural occurrence." He explained that the testosterone levels throughout his career were "natural and produced by my own organism."

Landis, a 30-year-old who captivated fans by become the third American to win the Tour, provided the urine samples at the center of his doping inquiry after winning Stage 17 in the Alps. He improbably climbed to third place over all after he had struggled and plunged to 11th the day before.

His urine sample provided after Stage 17 was divided into A and B samples. Confirmation of the A sample result is needed for any doping violation to occur. If the B sample comes up negative, the case is dropped. But the finding disclosed yesterday, based on a more sophisticated test, shows that Landis failed his initial screening and could be subjected to punishment because he had a prohibited substance in his body.

The French national antidoping laboratory in Chatenay-Malabry performed a carbon isotope ratio test on the first of Landis's two urine samples provided after Stage 17, the person, who is in the cycling union's antidoping department, said in an interview yesterday.

That test, which differentiates between natural and synthetic testosterone, was done after Landis's ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone was found to be more than twice the allowed under World Anti-Doping Agency rules, the person said. Regulations limit the ratio to four to one. The range for an average person is between one to one and two to one.

Landis's personal doctor, Dr. Brent Kay, of Temecula, Calif., said he hoped that the initial result of Landis's test was a false positive. He did, however, acknowledge that the test found a ratio of 11 to 1 in Landis's system. He and Landis are seeking an explanation for that high level.

"I've seen bodybuilders with numbers 100 to 1," Kay said. "Although Floyd's was elevated, it's not off the chart or anything."

Kay said there could be many explanations for Landis's high ratio, including a naturally high testosterone to epitestosterone level, bacterial contamination, alcohol consumption the night before the test or contamination of the specimen during testing. Kay also said both tests could have been inaccurate.

Landis, who was in New York after canceling or postponing several talk-show appearances, could not be reached for comment yesterday. His spokesman, Michael Henson, said that Landis sent a request yesterday for the French lab to test his B sample. He had five business days from last Wednesday to do so.

Henson said Landis sent a signed request to the French lab around 12:30 p.m. Eastern yesterday, which was about 6:30 p.m. in Paris. Jose Maria Buxeda, one of Landis's two Spanish lawyers, told The Associated Press that he had also sent a fax to U.C.I. yesterday afternoon to request that the B sample analysis go forward.

But Pat McQuaid, the president of U.C.I., said last night that the organization never received that request. He said U.C.I. contacted the French lab at 5 p.m. in Paris and that Landis's request had not yet been received.

McQuaid said U.C.I. then asked the lab to analyze Landis's B sample, which he said was allowed under the organization's rules, so the test could be concluded before the lab closed for a two-week vacation this Friday. If the tests cannot be finished before then, the results may not come until late August or early September, he said.

"It's a two-and-a-half-day job, and its imperative that the B test be done this week for the credibility of our sport, but also for the public interest," McQuaid said. "This needs to be put to rest because there is too much innuendo, too much talk, too much damage being done to our sport. We have to get this process done quickly, so we can move on."

The lab agreed to conduct the tests Thursday through Saturday, McQuaid said. That means that Landis's fate may be known by the weekend.

If the B sample comes back positive, Landis will face a two-year suspension from the sport. He also will be stripped of his Tour de France title. But waiting for the test may be a moot point.

Dr. Gary I. Wadler, a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency and an associate professor at New York University School of Medicine, said that the result of the carbon isotope ratio test already proved that there was synthetic testosterone in Landis's system. He said that the test needs to be done only once, on either an A or on a B sample.

"The rules say that it is a violation, but if you can show that the athlete had no fault or no significant fault, there could be a mitigation of the sanction," Wadler said. "No matter how it got there, the athlete has to show how it got into his or her body. It could have been sabotage or contaminated dietary supplements, or something else, but they have to prove how the testosterone got there."

New York Times