Landis, Guilty or Not Guilty?

The October issue of Bicycling magazine is on sale today (R26.95) and features a 12 page spread on Floyd Landis with an exclusive interview with Landis himself as well as 2 expert comments, both with opposing views.

In excerpts from the exclusive interview with Bicycling, Floyd Landis talks about what it feels like to be skewered by the press and forced off his bike – and how he pulled off perhaps the greatest feat in Tour De France history.

BICYCLING: So. How's life since the Tour been treating you?

Floyd Landis: Well, those two days before this subject came up were quite good. I had a few days to celebrate my Tour victory, and hopefully we'll get to do that again sooner than later. I will say that I'm very proud of what I did. I won the race clean, and I deserve to celebrate. And regardless of the way this goes, I'm going to have myself a little party because I'm very happy about what I did.

BICYCLING: After the news broke that it was you with the suspicious A sample for testosterone, you went on TV to defend yourself. You looked so uncomfortable.

Landis: The reason why I was nervous, and the reason why some of the statements I made have been used against me to say that I've been contradicting myself, is because the UCI broke its own rules, or the rules of the World Anti-Doping Agency. They made public that there was a test with an adverse analytical finding. They tried to explain their rationale for this by claiming that they knew that leaks exist from within the lab to [the French sports newspaper] L'Equipe. Now, in my mind, and I think in the mind of any clear-thinking individual, that indicts them immediately for being involved with someone unethical who is trying to decide whether other people are ethical. Following that, Pat McQuaid, the UCI president, made a statement, again, not a specific name, but saying that it was the "worst-case scenario." Now, unless it was Pat McQuaid who tested positive, the only other logical explanation for what he said was that it was me. He wasn't in any way trying to keep this confidential until after the B sample results were in, which is, according to the rules, the way they're supposed to deal with this.

So, I wasn't given any time to figure out what was going on. I didn't know why it happened, and in my mind I wanted to be myself and try to explain to people what was going on and offer possible explanations and theories, but really I didn't know what was going on.

BICYCLING: You say you're innocent and being falsely accused. Do you feel bitter or cheated?

Landis: I'm trying not to feel bitter and I'm trying not to feel cheated, because I understand and I appreciate what they're trying to do. They're trying to make the sport clean and fair, which is exactly what they should be doing. I also understand, though, that sometimes in any judicial process innocent people get involved and hopefully, if the process works, they're cleared in the end. But that doesn't mean that no innocent person is ever indicted.

On the other hand, if they had followed the protocol which they claim to adhere to, the early parts of this would have gone a lot smoother and it would have at least given me a chance to prepare myself for what I was about to go through. Because I am innocent, and I think I deserve the right to at least know what's coming next. As long as I know what the rules are, I can calculate what's coming next and deal with it.

BICYCLING: And if the UCI had followed the confidentiality rules early on, would you have fared better in the court of public opinion?

Landis: At this point, I think the public is on my side. I've seen a couple of polls, and I hope that people believe me because one fact remains: I won the race cleanly and fairly, and I'm proud of that. The other thing, the explanations I tried to come up with early on, I regret having said them, because I don't know what the explanation is. I was just trying to say, "Look, there is another explanation besides what they're saying."

For the full exclusive interview get your copy of the October issue of Bicycling on sale now.