Paul Kimmage interviews Floyd Landis

An abbreviated version of this interview was published here in Britain and Ireland in the Sunday Times, between Paul Kimmage and Floyd Landis.

http://nyvelocity.com/content/interviews/2011/landiskimmage

It's a long interview with some pretty explosive revelations.

 

from what little i've read (the excerpts on cyclingnews' site) his "confession" has the ring of truth. i grant it is easy to dislike him for having broken the silence and named names, but this talk with kimmage is more about how the lie grew to surround him and close him off from living closer to his upbringing. glad that he accepted that it was his choice to dope and didn't try to palm it off on some nebulous other. sure, he does give himself the out that he did it so he wasn't the one cheated, but i got the feeling that he has given a pretty good look behind the curtain of professional racing for his era. have to run off and track down the complete interview.

 

The part of the interview detailing Landis upbringing has little interest for me.

What about the part of the interview where he and Pereiro openly talked about taking blood transfusions as the pedalled along during the
2006 Tour De France and discussing who felt better after their respective infusion?
Or McQuaid telling Landis to go away and forget about the sport?

 

i'll say this; the interview certainly has quite a few people commenting. tipping the hat to c. bassons for his high class responses concerning the landis interview.

 

I found this interview really interesting. It's hard to believe him 100% now because of what's gone before, but reading this full interview I do think he's probably telling the truth it seems like he's nothing left to lose and telling the full story. Of course some people will still not trust him to be telling the truth and I can understand that.

Having read the interview I think I can see how once he made a bad decision it led to another and another until he was set on a course that it was getting harder and harder to get off of. Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to justify what he did and have never been a fan of his, even while he was cycling. I just think I can understand the situation better now.

 

I believe Landis to be credible in this interview. I think he's got absolutely nothing more to lose at this point in his life. I say 'life', instead of 'career', because too many of the suspected dopers in recent history still have too much to lose even though their cycling careers are long over. I really do hope Novitzky's investigation pans out and reels in the biggest fish of all, Lance Armstrong. If the investigation truly reveals systematic doping going back to the U.S. Postal days, it will be impossible for anyone to pretend it's not really happening today. More importantly, in my opinion, it will prompt an entire generation of retired pros to come clean about their careers. Bjarne Riis is a good example of coming out at the right time and saying "Here's what I did. This is why I did it. I don't care anymore. I'm getting on with my life now". It doesn't seem to have hurt him one bit. Cycling fans seem to have the stomach to forgive their heroes as long as they seem truthful about their past transgressions. I'll forgive the whole lot of them if it means professional cycling may get a new lease on life.

 

finally read the complete interview at nyvelocity. then, for the fun of it, scanned the comments on the interview.

wow. again, hats off to p k for the interview skills, save for the lack of questions concerning the computer hacking or the phone calls to lemond. would have like to have seen those topics addressed (as for the computer hacking, no questions because it is an ongoing affair?). as for landis, i have to say this interview is a fine look at how a lie can capture a person completely. he doesn't come off as either hero or villain, but as a human, trapped, scurrying, desperate to keep the lid down on the pot to preserve his cycling legacy. i imagine that the fda investigation will be the one to "tell all" concerning who did what and so on.

lim, should you ever have a chance to speak to p k, offer him a handshake from me for the work he has done for journalism. he continues to amaze me with how he can keep his tone civil even having looked again into this stinking witches' brew.

 

On a human level I agree it is difficult not to feel some sympathy for Landis. The man has lost his wife, his possessions and more important of all, his good name and reputation.
I think you're right Slovak, this is a story that is almost Aesop-like in the lessons that it provides.
LeMond issue was unforgivable in my opinion.

As regards seeing PK, I rarely see the man to be perfectly honest with you. From time to time he does take part in touring events and the like.
It is clear that he still likes riding his bike.
I raced against him as an amateur and he was a great rider. Us watercarriers were no match for him!

The last time I spoke to him (about 4 years ago), I asked him to drop along to this site just to view the comments and to add a comment if he wished.
I'm not sure that he did. But if I see him I will make sure to shake his hand on your behalf.
He does a great job on all our behalf i think.

 

Great read. Interesting that Landis first realised Armstrong was outside of the law and capable of anything when on the way to a strip club, driving through red lights!! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/eek.gif Made me chuckle anyway!!