today i spoke to someone who is very knowledgable and with his contacts is in a good position to comment on the landis situation. here is his theory as to the reasons behind landis´ positive test:
landis was already taking some form of performance enhancer prior to the tour de france but regulating his intake so that when his testosterone (i think i spelt that right) level was measured he was just within the legal limit which i was told was 6.1. (i dont know what 6.1 represents thats just the number i was told).
landis then took a lot of amphetamines prior to stage 17 which is a drug that has recently been taken off the banned list. amphetamines can dehydrate the human body hence landis´ high water intake on stage 17. unfortunately for landis amphetamines can also raise testosterone level. normally this wouldnt be a problem and would not cause an illegal level to be reached but because landis´ level was already high it meant that he now had an illegal level of testosterone in his body.
so he tested positive for high levels of testosterone (or low levels of epitosterone or whatever). the irony of this theory is that the substance that caused the positive test was not illegal in itself and so technically landis did not cheat prior to stage 17, of course what he did before that is another matter.
thats the theory of the person who is was speaking too, i may have made some mistakes with some minor details but that is basically what i was told. i personally dont know enough about performance enhancing drugs to make a substantial comment regarding the matter but this theory seems reasonable and too be honest, i believe it.
landis was already taking some form of performance enhancer prior to the tour de france but regulating his intake so that when his testosterone (i think i spelt that right) level was measured he was just within the legal limit which i was told was 6.1. (i dont know what 6.1 represents thats just the number i was told).
landis then took a lot of amphetamines prior to stage 17 which is a drug that has recently been taken off the banned list. amphetamines can dehydrate the human body hence landis´ high water intake on stage 17. unfortunately for landis amphetamines can also raise testosterone level. normally this wouldnt be a problem and would not cause an illegal level to be reached but because landis´ level was already high it meant that he now had an illegal level of testosterone in his body.
so he tested positive for high levels of testosterone (or low levels of epitosterone or whatever). the irony of this theory is that the substance that caused the positive test was not illegal in itself and so technically landis did not cheat prior to stage 17, of course what he did before that is another matter.
thats the theory of the person who is was speaking too, i may have made some mistakes with some minor details but that is basically what i was told. i personally dont know enough about performance enhancing drugs to make a substantial comment regarding the matter but this theory seems reasonable and too be honest, i believe it.
