Brand Destruction Research

Floyd Landis 'What's Fair Is Clear' Presentation to Highlight LNDD Mistakes and Flawed Science

Arnie Baker, M.D. to Present Key Scientific Arguments Supporting Tour de France Winner's Innocence

NEW YORK, Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Arnie Baker, M.D., will tonight advance 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis's scientific defense against the alleged failed doping test of July 20, 2006. Dr. Baker, medical and scientific advisor to the Landis defense team, will highlight mistakes and poor quality science by the Laboratoire National de Depistage du Dopage (LNDD). The new presentation, "Floyd Landis: What's Fair is Clear," will take place at 5:30 p.m. (Mountain Time Zone) at the Tucson Convention Center in Tucson, AZ as part of the El Tour de Tucson Expo.

Since its introduction on October 12, the Landis Wiki Defense has set a new paradigm for athlete transparency in doping cases. Dr. Baker's presentation will outline the most egregious elements of the LNDD's failures to conduct best practice or acceptable quality testing procedures and analysis, as well as violations of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules and policies. Arguments will include:

  -- Best practice and WADA positivity criteria were not met
  -- There were significant LNDD lab errors
  -- The sample analyzed was contaminated
  -- LNDD's testing procedures are unreliable and illogical

Arnie Baker, M.D. said, "I have spent the past two months examining the official lab package with Floyd's results and developed a fact-based review of the ways the LNDD conducted, analyzed and reported the test. I was astonished by the lack of quality of the documents and of the lab analysis itself." Floyd Landis said, "I ask cyclists, cycling fans and anyone who is interested in fair treatment and due process to please watch this web cast and download Dr. Baker's presentation. Any fair minded individual who reviews the facts will see that what's fair is clear: the sanctions against me should be overturned immediately." Dr. Baker's new slide show will be available for download online on Monday, November 20 at http://www.floydlandis.com/ .

Source: Floyd Landis

CONTACT: Michael Henson for Floyd Landis, +1-917-902-0767

Web site: http://www.floydlandis.com/

On Floyd Landis' Failed Tactics and Strategies

It's so sad to watch Floyd Landis try to recover from the failures of his own team's tactics and strategies for responding to the accusations of doping during the Tour de France.  By team, I don't necessarily mean his sponsor but his own legal support and whoever came together on his behalf.

You trusted weak tacticians, Floyd, and you'll pay for the rest of your life.  You'll always be treated like shit by the press and public and your legal advisers, who've managed to find the perfect way to drag this out without clearing you, will all go on with their well paid careers.

Check out this new AP article which says nothing new and focuses on Landis saying the lab must have made an error and sadly revealing that he doesn't have a fucking clue as to how to deal with this situation:

"I have to rely on my lawyers and the scientists, because I am a bicycle racer," Landis said. "That's all I know. I have to wait until the scientists can prove it. I hope that everybody will try to keep an open mind."

Sorry, buddy, but you failed to attack the lab at the beginning and encouraged[!] the same lab to test the second sample, meaning that all samples taken from Landis on the day in question at the Tour de France have now been contaminated.  There's very little hope of ever turning this around.

Now Landis is stuck in that hell of misleading journalistic accounts.  If you go back and read about the ongoing questions regarding French antidoping labs, you'll find that they've been under question even by independent scientific investigators, especially when studying the ongoing failed attempts to criminalize Lance Armstrong.  Yet, Jerome Pugmire of the AP writes:

Although the Chatenay-Malabry lab is accredited by the International Olympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency, Landis believes it got his test results wrong.

Pugmire makes absolutely no adknowlegement of the serious questions raised regarding this investigation illustrating that the popular accounts of Floyd Landis' final days as a professional cyclist will forever be portrayed by journalists who don't know what they're talking about and won't do adequate background research, relying instead on certain formalistic writing devices [on the one hand, on the other, he said, she said] that pass for journalistic fairness.

Sorry, Floyd, but you're fucked.

For some interesting thoughts from a writer that does not presume Floyd's innocence but is also quite aware of all the possibilities that have not been fully discussed in the MSM, check the archives of Free Floyd Landis.

Floyd Landis's Defense Team Has Dropped the Ball

Dehydration the latest cause offered for Landis' elevated testosterone levels

To some degree, Floyd Landis's defense seems to be grasping at straws and playing pr games.  Given that they allowed the same lab to test the B sample.  They may have already lost the opportunity to prove Landis innocent if, in fact, that is the case.

At this point I don't think we'll have a clear picture any time soon but I do know that Landis's career can be stopped without that clear picture ever being provided.

I wish they had entered this struggle with a stronger understanding of how to address technical and scientific questions both in a public forum and in a legal battle.

On the other hand, not addressing such issues may also indicate that they know that no matter where they go, the test results will be the same.

I'm sure it will all become clear in 10 or 15 years when some insider publishes his expose after retiring.

Rush to Test Floyd Landis's B Sample May Be His Undoing

I've been meaning to get back with more on Floyd Landis and accusations of doping in international cycling competitions.  Unfortunately, time demands I focus on other projects.

I do want to say that I recognize that my initial stance is a good example of jumping to final conclusions based on past evidence that does not necessarily provide proof in this case.  The fact that Lance Armstrong was the most tested of any cyclist in history and was never ultimately shown to be doping was a possible indicator that he was being unfairly harassed by officials in a sport that could not accept his achievements because they established a new level of accomplishment in the sport and because they came from an American who had survived cancer.  But that doesn't prove that Floyd Landis is undergoing the same treatment, however likely it may seem.

More recently, the validity of the testing labs have been brought into question by third party evaluators, the validity of the tests themselves have long been in question and the possibility of someone else spiking Floyd Landis's food or drink has to be considered.

What bothers me is seeing the press and various officials use propaganda techniques to shut down considerations of such concerns and take an accusatory stance when, scientifically speaking, valid concerns regarding all aspects of the testing process have yet to be addressed.

I'm also bothered by Greg Lemond's assumption about Landis given that he accussed Armstrong of doping without any evidence.  Lemond looks old and bitter these days, to be quite frank, when he could be appearing in ads with Lance if he'd played his cards right.

I'm not sure if the lab currently testing Landis's samples is the same one that has come under critique but, if I were Landis, I would not be trusting my B sample to the same lab that came up with the first results because the pressure is now on them both internally and externally to replicate those results as any competent technician would set out to do at this point.

Pushing for a quick test of the B sample may end up being a tactical error that undoes Floyd Landis without actually leading to any conclusions that approximates that mystical entity and/or state of being termed "truth".

I'll get back with more on this since I can get angry about the topic without alienating most folks.

First Lance, Now Landis, The Witch Hunt Continues

Tour Cyclist Yields Positive Sample for Doping

Landis Fails Drug Test After Triumph in Tour de France

Landis: Stigma 'May Never Go Away'

I think following the progress of the current drug charges against Tour de France winner Floyd Landis, charges that I believe are a continuation of the extensive witch hunt against Lance Armstrong, will be an instructive case.

In particular, it will open up the seemingly arcane but quite relevant issue of testing labs and their roles in brand destruction, even when clearly discredited by relatively objective third party analysis.

Not only will BDR's investigation raise questions about drug testing in sports but also in legal settings, such as the LAPD's criminal approach to drug testing, and in school setting where testing is used to maintain social order.

However, BDR will not be opening a case file on Barry Bonds due to lack of interest on the part of our key researcher, um, that's me!

This topic may also be a bit more enjoyable for those without interest in CIA tactics and strategies or Republican Party fun and games.

More soon.  But you knew that already.