VISALIA, CA – One cyclist has finally come clean of his dirty past and has shared some interesting accusations!
Floyd Landis has finally admitted to doping after four years of maintaining his innocence. He furiously denied doping allegations that ruined his reputation and caused him to be stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title. Landis has sent several e-mail messages to cycling officials in the United States and Europe admitting using performance-enhancing drugs for most of his career.
“I want to clear my conscience,” said Landis, who races with the lower level OUCH-Bahati Foundation Pro Cycling team. “I don’t want to be part of the problem anymore.”
In the messages, which were first reported by The Wall Street Journal, Landis accused other top American cyclists on the United States Postal Service team, including Lance Armstrong, of using performance-enhancing drugs and methods. Landis was part of the Postal Service team back in 2002, his first year alongside teammate Armstrong. Included in his accusations were United States road racing national champion George Hincapie, three-time Tour of California champion Levi Leipheimer and five-time United States time trial champion David Zabriskie.
“I don’t know what is in the head of Floyd Landis, what his motivations are, but I think Dave just wants to get on with this race,” Jonathan Vaughters said, team manager for Zabriskie’s Garmin-Transitions team, at the ongoing Tour of California. “Dave can win this race. He can win this race clean, under any level of scrutiny.”
Landis also gives detailed information about his own doping practices, saying he consistenly used the blood-booster EPO to increase his endurance, testosterone, human growth hormone and blood transfusions.
“I don’t feel guilty at all about having doped. I did what I did because that’s what we cyclists did and it was a choice I had to make after 10 years or 12 years of hard work to get there; and that was a decision I had to make to make the next step,” he added. “My choices were, do it and see if I can win, or don’t do it and I tell people I just don’t want to do that, and I decided to do it.”
