French Press: Last coffee of the evening and news from Paris, Tuesday

Even though these were posted online fairly late in the evening, only this morning's cross-examination is covered. More tomorrow morning, I hope. Two slightly different stories. The first appeared in Eurosport, and was picked up by Belgium's "7 sur 7":

Landis defends himself

American Floyd Landis responded to lawyers from the American Antidoping Agency without changing his line of defense Tuesday morning in Malibu. The USADA has accused him of doping after a positive drug test during his victorious 2006 Tour de France.

Landis had to defend his image as an honest man for some 90 minutes during which he was questioned by Matthew Barnett, one of the USADA attorneys. The question of whether he had doped was never directly asked.

Without being especially aggressive, Barnett was most insistent on showing that the rider, who tested positive after the 17th stage, was not as much a stickler with respect to values as he wanted to make the judges of the indepedent American Arbitration Agency believe.

Landis, dressed in a dark suit with a yellow tie, had to explain his actiions in the episode of Will Geoghegan, his "friend" and former representative who threatened Greg LeMond by telephone last week, with intimidating words regarding the sexual abuse of which (LeMond) had been a victim in his youth, and which only Landis knew about.

He also had to defend himself in regard to disagreeable statements made about Greg LeMond, again, in a message sent to an internet site in November. But Landis never seemed to be in any difficulty dealing with Barnett s questions, even if (Barnett) placed in evidence a certain hidden facer of the "polite" Landis.

The second story appeared on l'Equipe's website:

Landis defends himself

Here we are already on the next-to-last day of the hearings, and nothing has changed. Tuesday moring in Malibu, Floyd Landis responded to questions from Matthew Barnett, one of the American Antidoping Agency (USADA) attorneys, but did not vary one iota from his position. He did not dope. Even if the question of whether he had had recourse to prohibited substances was never directly asked him.

The USADA lawyer principally undertook to demonstrate that the image the 2006 Tour de France winner, who tested positive after the 17th stage, has been trying to project--that of an irreproachable man, very much the stickler with respect to his values--might perhaps be counterfeit. Thus, Matthew Barnett pushed Landis for an explanation of the "Will Geoghegan episode," involving his former friend and manager who had threatened Greg LeMond by telephone on the eve of his testimony last week. The champion (Landis) then decided to fire (Geoghegan).

Landis also had to go over some unpleasant statements also made about Greg LeMond, in a message sent to an internet site in November. He also was led to admit that doping was a subject regularly discussed in the peloton.