Saturday Roundup

News
France Télévisions are reportedly running an interview with Landis on Stade 2 tomorrow. If anyone is able to watch, we'd love a report. A pre-show blurb retranslated by our Ferret helper Marc says:

Nicolas Geay questioned Floyd Landis in the U.S. for Stade 2. This first interview for a European television station since the announcement of the positive result of his doping test is very moving, according to [Geay]. "The rider clarifies things," says [Geay], "in a way he had not done so far. Specifically, he directs a very strong message to the French."

The exclusive interview is the result of three months of negotiations.

François Brabant, deputy director of Sports for France TV, explained to the newspaper Le Parisian, that Landis originally wanted a live interview, since he was worried that his statements would be truncated during editing. Neither he nor his entourage asked for payment.

The interview was recorded Monday, November 6. Landis required that he be told in advance the broad lines of the interview.

During the interview the rider was flanked by a media adviser, a lawyer, and an expert on questions regarding doping.

Among other subjects in the interview, Landis goes back in detail to the evening of July 19--the evening after his breakdown on the Bourg d’Oisans-La Toussuire stage. At that time he stated he had drunk a great deal of alcohol. The next day he won by more than 5 minutes, and underwent a drug test--which has caused his loss. . . .

He was offended by the final form of the official film of the 2006 Tour, which the France TV team screened for him. [In it], a mirror breaks over his image.

Officially, Landis is still considered the victor of the 2006 Tour. A legal process is underway.

Forums
At DPF, Floyd is back from an absence, and Gareth Turnbull comes up in discussion. He also hints he may be starting a defense fund.

Blogs
A comment notes that FloydLandis.com has gone to basic blue, as all photos have vanished. I don't know if this is intentional, or somebody popped in the wrong template by mistake. It could be with expiration of the Phonak team rights have gotten complicated and it was safest to go unbranded for a while. There are still other refs, including a 'my team this year' Phonak jersey in the sidebar. Wonder what's up?

Update: all is back to normal. Somebody popped in the wrong template by mistake. Hmmm, simple human error, and all sorts of conclusions available to leap towards. There could be an analogy there to some other situation, I wonder what?

Rant keeps wondering about AFT's presentation that "the peloton" believes Landis doped with contaminated blood

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