Armstrong cable
Landis is ready to roll after ban
Floyd Landis is returning to cycling and says his sport will be better for it.
Landis’ feel-good story ended when he was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France victory following a doping scandal and protracted fight in courts around the world. He said Thursday he feels “like a kid again” knowing his two-year ban from cycling will end next week.
“In my mind, it’s already behind me,” Landis said in an interview with the Associated Press. “I’m not dwelling on that at all.”
Landis was barred for using synthetic testosterone in the latter stages of cycling’s showcase race three years ago. He contends the testing system is flawed, but he has no means left to fight other than to resume racing.
He will ride for the Ouch cycling team and debut in the Tour of California, which begins Feb. 14 in Sacramento.
“This isn’t some kind of statement to shut down the critics or any kind of changing-the-world project of mine,” Landis said. “This is me doing what I’ve trained myself to do for the last 15 years, and I hope that the people that follow bike racing get a better show than what they’ve had the last couple years.”
His return comes on the heels of seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong resuming his racing career. Armstrong is in Australia at the Tour Down Under, his first competitive race in three years.
They’ll be linked in the Tour of California, which Armstrong is planning to make his next race. Cable channel Versus said Thursday it will show all nine days of that event.
“I don’t think our two returns to the sport are that similar, other than we haven’t raced in a while,” Landis said. “I wish him the best. I think it’s great for cycling, and Tour of California will be a good show.”
Armstrong plans to ride in France this year. Landis isn’t sure if he’ll ever return to the sport’s premier event.
“I don’t have any goals to, but I wouldn’t say that I don’t ever want to,” Landis said. “I would prefer to see how racing in the United States goes, and if I really do enjoy it as much as I expect to, I’ll set new goals.”
Landis says he feels as good as ever, largely because his right hip is pain-free. He underwent hip resurfacing surgery two years ago, relieving the bone-on-bone pain that plagued him for years, even during that 2006 Tour.
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