Phonak's official response

[Keith A]

Phonak Cycling Team to clarify consequences

The Phonak Cycling Team has learned today from the International Cycling Union (UCI) that team captain Floyd Landis’s B sample has also resulted in a positive finding of doping. As a result, Landis will be dismissed without notice for violating the team’s internal Code of Ethics. Landis will continue to have legal options to contest the findings. However, this will be his personal affair and the Phonak team will no longer be involved in that. Team owner Andy Rihs deeply regrets this development. At present, he is clarifying with all parties involved what consequences this may have for his company ARcycling AG, the operator of the Phonak Cycling Team. Andy Rihs and Team Manager John Lelangue will make in-depth statements regarding this matter at a media conference to be held in the next couple of days.

[Fixed]

what's with these guys they screw up their riders then dis-own em f... them
bro
cheers

[Fat Robert]

why would any guy sign with phonak and their phoney doctors?

oh yeah

its because 500 other guys would take the contract if they didn't

my bad

[Endless Goods]

Andy Rihs had some interesting comments on Velonews about how doping has in fact HELPED his ability to sponsor a Protour team

Copyright, Velonews as follows:

"While Rihs has professed a commitment to anti-doping efforts, he has also quite candidly conceded that even adverse publicity has not hurt his company's bottom line.

"People around the globe automatically associate Phonak with hearing aids and that's solely because of cycling," Rihs told VeloNews during this year's Tour de France. "We have become a real brand. Doping does not diminish that effect at all. In a way, I am glad that there is so much talk about doping in cycling, because it deters big corporations. If they would invest in cycling I wouldn't be able to afford it anymore. And, let's face it - in professional sports, where there is a lot of money involved, you need medical support."

Full interview here:

http://www.velonews.com/tour2006/news/articles/10522.0.html

[Keith A]

what's with these guys they screw up their riders then dis-own em f... themFixed,
This seems to be SOP for the teams. Everyone that has been tested posted (both A & B) has been dropped by their teams as soon as the B sample results are released.

It is odd how they all (teams, UCI, etc) operate as guilty until proven innocent -- a little different from the way the courts function here in the USA.

[Keith A]

Andy Rihs had some interesting comments on Velonews about how doping has in fact HELPED his ability to sponsor a Protour teamInteresting...but isn't Phonak dropping its title sponsorship next year?

[Steelman]

Fixed,

It is odd how they all (teams, UCI, etc) operate as guilty until proven innocent -- a little different from the way the courts function here in the USA.

At least in the case of the teams, it is standard employee-employer relationship terms, even in the USA.

Your employer has a strong belief that you have been using drugs he can fire you without any "due process". You don't agree, you seek a remedy in a civil court. Pretty standard stuff.

[BoulderGeek]

Floyd better get on that hip replacement before his insurance runs out!

[Avispa]

It is odd how they all (teams, UCI, etc) operate as guilty until proven innocent -- a little different from the way the courts function here in the USA.

Keith,

"Innocent until proven guilty" is not just in the American Legal System* or way to do things. Most countries I the First World operate that way....

In any case, remember we are talking about the rules of sport! Not the rules of a civil/criminal court. In a criminal court, you are going to lose many of your civil rights while the courts prove it otherwise. Many times you are incarcerated while this happens, while athletes do not have to post bond or go to jail while they wait for an outcome on their situation. They are just "suspended" by the team.

In sports, the athlete is guilty the minute they test positive and it is their responsibility to prove it otherwise... You and I don't have to agree to this, but those are the rules and everyone with a UCI license has to sign an agreement when they get a license, just like our Florida drivers license says that: "Operation of a motor vehicle constitutes consent to any sobriety test required by law"

I guess, if the UCI could hold someone in jail, until the case is solved, maybe then they would not have to say that someone tested positive right away.

*Not that I think the System is that great, anyway. Just ask a Colored person...

[Grant McLean]

If we are to assume that the testing process works,
let me see if i've got this logic correct:

Floyd, on his own, during the Tour, one time, after some beers & jack,
went to the local pharmacy in a small town in the Alps and bought some
Testo patches in the middle of the night without telling anyone?

Give me a break.

It's so crystal-freakin'-clear that Phonak has been totally supporting any
and all efforts of their riders to dope for some time now. It should
be totally obvious to everyone that Floyd can't just "find" some testo in
the middle of the night by himself. If it's not going on all the time, how
does a rider just come across some patches?????

g

[Kevan]

what's this fine print down on the bottom of the last page of his contract:

"We reserve the right to release you from this contract faster than you can slam back a coke."

[72gmc]

all this cynicism is hard to escape. when i saw oscar p's 'i feel like the winner of the tour now' statement i first thought boy, that's a way to treat a friend when he's down--and then i thought gee, oscar, i suuuuure hope you and your holier-than-thou team owner never wind up with a positive test to explain.

[tch]

It's so crystal-freakin'-clear that Phonak has been totally supporting any
and all efforts of their riders to dope for some time now. It should
be totally obvious to everyone that Floyd can't just "find" some testo in
the middle of the night by himself. If it's not going on all the time, how
does a rider just come across some patches?????
g
Thjs is the issue/problem that I see in all this: once again, the least powerful face the most consequence. Riders (who have little individual power -- at least until they become famous like LA) are "encouraged" to get with the program [as one of our own members attested, the bottom line is "if you don't like it, quit"], and then when the "program" is exposed, the riders are the one who get the **** end of the stick. This whole imbalance of power makes me sick. It's not much more than feudal servitude from the riders' position.
Meanwhile the Directors and owners and sponsors (who, in fact, benefit the most from the sport) float above the muck with sanctimonious pronouncements.
I guess that's how it's always been in life -- but it sure sucks.