[Monkeydad]

I think we need to hold off hanging the guy until we get the details.

The French anti-doping committee is really an anti-American committee. Look at how badly they tried to get rid of Lance Armstrong because they couldn't beat him on the race course. They were RIDICULOUS. Lance was tested something like 7 times before his last race and they still couldn't find anything, while they barely tested their own cyclists.

They said that found his testosertone levels were high. Landis has a deteriorated hip that is going to be replaced now that the race is over. It could've been an effect of some painkillers and trust me, no drug could give him ANY advantage over the Frenchie cyclists with the condition of his hip. He was in a ton of pain the whole time and still won.

This same anti-doping group tried nonstop to accuse Lance Armstrong of things he wasn't guilty of. They probably thought that they'd have a chance to win now with him retired and to their horror, ANOTHER American beat them. Why else would they not ban him BEFORE the race if they had really found something? This is just another attempt to remove the real competition so they'll have a chance to win. The French haven't won their own race since 1985 and have always been sore losers and bad sportsmen. Look how the World Cup soccer tournament ended for them.

I don't think he cheated. I really don't. Even if there was something in his system, it doesn't change the fact that it was extremely painful for him to even enter the race. He was going to need a hip replacement anyways and this could be his last chance to fulfill his dream, so I don't think he's knowingly risk it by cheating.

He probably won't be able to compete at the level he can now with the new hip. He'll have to be more careful with that joint because they DO wear out. When younger people get joint replacements, they'll likely need it replaced again later in life since the artificial joints (some parts are made of teflon) do have a certain life span (depending on the joing it's 10-20 years) even without pushing them like an athlete would. It's best to put off joint replacements as long as possible so that you can avoid wearing it out. I have a finger joint that needs replaced from breaking it when I played baseball. I ALREADY had arthritis in it, so the injury just made it worse than it was. It's not too painful now so I'm going to put it off another 20 years if I can stand to, so I won't need it done more than once.

I don't know why there is such a kneejerk action to trust this organization who has blatantly cheated themselves before by trying to pin untrue things on Americans just so they can ban them.