Friday Roundup

News
Richmond.com reporter Andy Thompson interviews John Eustice as it publicizes the US Open Cycling Championships to be held in Richmond, VA this weekend. It asks Eustice if he is afraid of any backlash due to the appearance of his friend Floyd Landis who is attending the race:

Richmond.com: Floyd Landis has lived under a cloud of suspension since testing positive for elevated testosterone levels after winning the 2006 Tour de France. Why did you think it was important to have him here at this race?

John Eustice: Floyd Landis is my friend and I'm also a supporter of his and his defense of doping allegations on the Tour de France. Floyd supports cycling, and this is a brand new race and he wants to come support it. He understands what we're doing here, trying to create European quality races here in the United States. He's very supportive of the up and coming American riders.

RDC: Do you worry that Landis, with his case still pending before an arbitrator, could bring the wrong kind of publicity to this event?

J.E.: I've really studied this issue. I'm not blind, but I studied the issue and I think it's a great travesty that's occurring to him. He is raising awareness of the fact that he has been unjustly accused. He's not doing fundraising here but he has done fundraisers. I am honored that he is at this race.I run a race called the UNIVEST Grand Prix in Pennsylvania in September. We were the first race to say hey, we believe in Floyd Landis. We honored him at the race and he was a huge, huge, huge success.

The Bowling Green Daily News posts a piece about author Christopher Thompson's book on the history of the Tour de France titled "The Tour de France: A Cultural History". It, among other topics, traces the use of various PEDs by the competittors throughout the history of the Tour.
He takes a cynical view of Landis:

“My own assumption is that the test is correct, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was mistakes in the testing procedure and he ultimately wins his appeal."

The New York Times writes what is more of a travelogue about the upcoming Tour de Georgia with a minor mention of defending champion Floyd Landis.

The Sydney Morning Herald's Peter FitzSimons gives us perhaps the snark of the month, though it's still early April, in the guise of a quote from The Daily Mail's Paul Hayward concerning Floyd Landis and the similarities to the Ian Thorpe case.

Blogs
Cycle Rama was at Stool Pigeons last night and met Floyd Landis who was participating in a meet and greet with local cycling fans to promote this weekend's US Open Cycling Championships in Richmond, VA. She felt very conflicted meeting him due to the doping accusations made against him last summer, but she made no comment to him about this when she met him.

Rhett Olson gives a link to the FFF video, but takes a view shared by probably most Americans who don't automatically assume he's guilty:

I think what is happening is unfair to Landis, but I don't care enough to send money.

Shadow and Mirror feels ambivalence about explaining doping to an innocent who enjoyed watching the tour last summer, and hasn't heard anything since.

"You are really going to explain doping in cycling to him?" somebody asked me when I told this story.

"Sure," I replied. "If I can handle 'Why do Christians want Jesus to be in pain?' I can handle this."

Armchair GM talks about Thorpe, and L'Equipe, and gets just about everything right, including the phrase "alleged use of synthetic testosterone" by Landis.

Christopher was bored last night so he did a longitudinal interview with himself about his life from the ages of 17-21. Most notably he has invested large amounts of money in bicycles and is currently watching Floyd Landis in last year's Tour de France video. We are pleased to report that thus far he sports no tattoos.

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