Friday Roundup

News
The NY Times Edward Wyatt writes about the release of "Positively False" the Floyd Landis book due in bookstores on June 26. In it Wyatt finds the majority of the material to be previously known, but he does see a contradiction in some of Landis' statements about the consequences from the LeMond testimony during his USADA hearings in May:

In an epilogue, Landis writes that he witnessed Geoghegan’s phone call and was shocked by his manager’s attempt to intimidate LeMond by bringing up LeMond’s previously undisclosed history of being sexually abused as a child. So shocked, he writes, that he immediately decided Geoghegan should be fired.

“The only thing I knew right away was that Will needed to go,” Landis writes. “I went to his room and helped him pack his things

AP's Eddie Pells has filed a story about the book, describing claims by Landis that USADA dropped other cases to divert resources to prosecuting him.

The North County Times writes about a Tuesday night appearance by Floyd Landis at a California bike shop in the Inlands Empire. Landis spoke before approximately 100 people about his upbringing in Lancaster, PA ,among other topics, but is under a gag order and cannot speak to issues surrounding his recent hearings until after the descision has been rendered:

Despite the emotional, and financial, strain he has been under, Landis appeared relaxed and at ease, every now and then flashing his sense of humor. At one point, he even poked fun of his predicament.

"If it wasn't me, I would definitely be laughing," Landis said

The San Bernardino County Sun also writes about Tuesday's FFF fundraiser with Floyd Landis before a sympathetic and enthusiastic crowd at Don's Bicycles. Though people's questions were limited by the gag order placed on Landis after his recent USADA hearings, Floyd answered any and all other queries with grace and appreciation:

"The fact that there's still support, I'm honored," he said.

His demeanor matched his casual attire - jeans and a blue polo shirt. Sitting on a stool, the easygoing, 170-pound Landis answered serious questions at times with humorous remarks about how he trains for races and what winning the title - now in question - is like.

Landis will be back at the bike shop on Saturday at 8AM for a free 20 mile training ride.


The CyclingNews opens its' Friday mailbag and finds a couple of Landis related notes. One by Bill Adkins agrees with last week's letter which wondered about Greg LeMond's motives in testifying at the Landis hearings, and another by A. Woods still questions where all that energy Landis showed on stage 17 in last summer's Tour de France came from.

CyclingNews also reports that Basso has been given a full two-year suspension, but also credited with some time served, which is odd to us:

The disciplinary commission subtracted 236 days for the sum of the days Basso has already spent under suspension.

"Based on what?" we wonder. We seem to recall him working for Leipheimer in the Tour of California a few months ago. Not clear if the UCI will appeal based on this credit.

AP story via TSN says pretty much the same about Basso.


USAToday SportsScope follows up on Johnnie Morton, and comes out confused about his test result. We think the 83.9 means it's a T/E violation, because it sounds like a real number. As we know. 76.4% of all statistics are made up.


Blogs
Dugard read the NYT piece on "Positively False" this morning and other than the LeMond reference in the epilogue he thinks it will be pretty much the same old story. Dugard wonders why, if Landis is trying to sell books and get some word of mouth going, he doesn't mention more about Lance and spill a few Postal secrets while launching the book at the Tour itself ?:

The original plan with Floyd's book was to launch in London as the Tour gets underway. Leakng a few copies early sure helps. Launching in London, however, will not ingratiate himself with the Tour, WADA, UCI, or anyone else running the world of cycling. At this point, it appears that he doesn't care -- nor should he. He's a good man trying to clear his name. Better to seek forgiveness than to ask permission.

GoFasterJim wants Patric Clerc to be more careful about what he says when he states that it's clear that Floyd Landis is not the winner of the 2006 Tour de France:

What an ignorant comment. Until the USADA (and if necessary the CAS) issues its ruling, Landis is not guilty of anything. This comment illustrates one of the main problems with the way these cases are carried out, namely, that the cycling powers that be shoot their mouths off until the appropriate court has ruled.

Brittanica Blog talks about the spring's top-10 PED stories, rating the Landis hearing #7. We get a plug.

Triple Crankset notes the early "read" on the Landis biography,"Positively False" which is due out at the end of June, but apparently is in the hands of some people already.

100% Injury Rate thinks that there are a LOT of well deserved asterisks out there in the sports world.

Muckraked.com looks at "Positively False" and has nothing kind to say, dismissing complaints by Landis about Mr. Pound.

DrunkCyclist looks at "Positively False" and says it's another case of, "deny, deny, deny." And why didn't Landis fire Geoghegan on the spot?

JohnnyBaseball thinks "Positively False" will have little new, and looks like a boilerplate jock autobiography.

Race Junkie thinks the leaked but cleared Iban Mayo shows the UCI can be fair, unlike what it did to Landis.