Embattled Landis takes part in race
VAIL, Colo. – No yellow jersey at stake. No bills to pay. No reputation to defend.
Instead, Floyd Landis rode in a nice little race on a mountain bike Saturday – an event the Tour de France champion entered only to raise money for charity and possibly remind himself of how much simpler his world used to be.
It was his first real race of any kind since his victory ride down the Champs-Elysees in Paris last July. He finished an unofficial 49th, nearly 25 minutes behind the first-place finisher in a two-hour grind through the mountains of Vail.
“I haven’t suffered in a while,” he said when it was over, happy he simply finished his first mountain-bike race in nearly nine years. “I figured this was a good place to start.”
Indeed, the result wasn’t what mattered to him on this day. Simply being in Vail, away from lawyers, publicists and the troubles that have defined his life and his troubled sport of late, was a refreshing change.
“I just get tired of having everything focused on me,” Landis said in a prerace interview with The Associated Press. “Once I got here, it occurred to me again that it’s not always like that.”
It reminded him that, yes, the whole racing scene can be fun, even though it’s far from perfect.
“Obviously, I’m not the only one in the sport with some issues,” he said. “The sport’s dealing with a lot of stuff right now. That’s not a reason for me to pretend it wasn’t part of my life or doesn’t exist. I still care about it. I still care about the people who were there.”
He is nearly two weeks removed from that half-boring, half-bizarre arbitration hearing that could decide his fate. In the next month or so, the panel will decide whether Landis was guilty of doping at last year’s Tour de France. From there, the loser is expected to appeal. Until then, Landis remains barred from commenting on the hearing.
But not from riding – at least not in an event like this, the Teva Mountain Games, where he’s racing for charity, with any winnings his team earns going to prostate cancer research.
He said his surgically repaired hip feels good. So good, in fact, that had he been eligible to defend his yellow jersey at the Tour de France next month, he’d be there. Instead, he’ll watch the Tour from his home in California, maybe mix in some bike rides in the afternoons.
As he headed into this weekend’s short races – he’ll also compete in a time trial today – he was still trying to work his way back into shape, as his less-than-stellar finish showed.
“There were quite a few weeks when I rode a reasonable amount, 200-300 miles a week,” he said. “Then that hearing. It was almost 10 days. I didn’t ride at all. You’re sitting there. The next thing you know, you’re eating doughnuts and you don’t even care. It was awful.”
Beyond that, there’s not much he can say about the hearing.
He took a small step back this weekend at an event that is privately run, not sanctioned by any governing body, not subject to doping control. A few years ago, a friend of Landis’ lost a close relative to prostate cancer.
“I can’t imagine what it’s like to go through that, knowing it’s probably going to end your life,” Landis said. “That’s a lot more serious stuff than what I went through. These guys asked if I’d show up. Well, it’s no effort on my part to come to a race like this. I said I’d gladly show up.”
His Tour victory has been in limbo since he tested positive for synthetic testosterone after Stage 17. He has maintained his innocence, but at great expense.
“I’d imagine for the rest of my life, that’s going to be the subject, so you might as well get used to it,” Landis said. “I’m not going to let that change the decisions I make. It’s going to be there whatever I do, unless I move to the middle of Mexico where nobody knows who I am.
“Which,” he said with a laugh, “is also a possibility.”