Flies and Bikes Blog

The Floyd Landis doping saga has reached new and bizarre levels. Soon after winning the 2006 Tour de France, Landis was stripped of his title after it emerged that he'd tested positive for testosterone.  Of course, and as is the case with just about every case of sports doping, Landis has never admitted guilt, and mounted a spirited defence with a high-powered legal team.  This defence used copies of material obtained from the testing lab, and wa sultimately unsuccessful.

Now, however, it would appear that the case has reached quite unusual levels - Cyclingnews.com reports that a French arrest warrant has been issued - for computer hacking (Arrest Warrant Issued For Landis In France | Cyclingnews.com).  The article claims:

In November 2006, the [Chatanay Malabry] lab reported that its computer systems had been infected with a "Trojan Horse" virus, which was used by someone to access the lab's confidential documents. The lab said that data had been removed or changed, allegedly in an attempt to discredit the work of the organisation.

An email carrying the virus was alleged to have been sent from a computer with the same IP address as that of Landis' coach Arnie Baker. Both Landis and Baker denied any involvement in the hacking, but authorities maintain that the pair made use of pilfered documents in Landis' defense argument.

"Landis used the hacked files for his defense, that's how we discovered the whole scheme," Bordry said to the Associated Press. "He wanted to show that the lab made mistakes in the handling of the tests."

Even by the tortuous nature of doping cases, this has to take the biscuit as the most unexpected.  Other than the strange "vanishing twin" defence proposed by Tyler Hamilton's defence team in the face of clear evidence of blood doping, of course...

This one may run and run.

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