Floyd Landis, the American cyclist who was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title after failing a drugs test, has been convicted by a French court of hacking into the computer records of the laboratory that tested the sample in question.
The 36-year-old, tried in his absence, was handed a 12-month suspended sentence. The state prosecutor had requested a penalty of 18 months, reports the Washington Post.
Prosecutors had maintained that Landis, along with his coach Arnie Baker, had illegally accessed the records of the WADA accredited laboratory in Chatenay-Malabry, operated by France's anti-doping agency, the AFLD, in an attempt to gather evidence to try and clear his name.
The laboratory had discovered that the rider, then with the Phonak team, had unusually high levels of testosterone in a sample taken after he had ridden his way right back into contention on GC with a storming ride to Morzine in the Alps, putting more than 7 minutes into maillot jaune Oscar Pereiro, who would eventually be awarded the overall victory.
Landis finally confessed to his drug-taking last year, and also levelled accusations of systematic doping at members of his former US Postal Service team, including seven times Tour de France winner, Lance Armstrong. An investigation into those allegations by Landis and others is continuing in the US.
I ended up using Parcelforce - paying online and printing off a sticker - then drop off at the post office. I came across a couple of things worth...
Reckless doesn't exist as a charge in the UK, it's either careless or dangerous.
Australia?...
hi kathy, i've emailed you
First Degree Assault in Maryland is serious - intent to cause serious injury, regardless of whether injury caused. A firearm makes it First Degree...
Beat me to it. 30mph on gravel for a 75kg rider requires around 680W, so those who can achieve it will be experiencing a 0.4% improvement. I know...
Re the helmet row again....
Good comments on the story in the Sheffield Star.
The madman Fox failed to fill in the form correctly...
Not so long ago you could get Muc Off for £12 in one of the many sales - £30 is off the scale ridiculous greedflation in action.