Taking de France out of the Tour

Here’s the question I assume that most Americans probably have regarding the recent developments in the Floyd Landis case, and I’m prefacing it with the fact that I don’t really understand Americans all that well. At least that’s the case when it comes to culture and politics.

Nevertheless, when it comes to Landis the question is this:

Is he getting off because of a technicality or is he getting off because the test results are wrong?

Which is it? And it’s just so black and white, right?

Be that as it is, let’s get one thing clear – Landis will be officially vindicated. He will not lose his 2006 Tour de France victory. (Doesn’t that sound like a weird sentence? He will not lose his victory?)

So do we apologize to Floyd, or what?

Let’s back track for a second… Landis, the Californian via Lancaster County, Pa., is out on his “Vindication Tour ‘07” as the case against him crumbles like trans-fat laden cookie. According to a story in The Los Angeles Times by Michael A. Hiltzik, the French lab that handled Landis’ urine samples for the allegedly dirty samples following the 17th Stage of last year’s Tour de France did not follow proper testing procedure.

The most critical error from the controversial French laboratory is that it allowed two technicians to analyze both Landis' initial and validating urine analyses. That’s a violation of international standards, according to the LA Times report, because the same technicians cannot analyze both tests.

In that regard it sounds as if Floyd will walk on a technicality. But it opens up the question of whether or not the technicians were covering up their own tracks seeing that Landis passed every other drug test he ever took.

In those matters, check out Steroid Nation, as well as Trust But Verify – the extremely thorough site devoted exclusively to Landis coverage.

Meanwhile, Landis claims there are more mistakes from the lab that apparently erred and destroyed Landis’ reputation in some circles. If it is in fact revealed that the lab is liable for the errors and the Tour de France is complicit in hiring a “criminal” lab to do its testing, then what should happen?

Obviously, the lab faces lawsuits galore not just from Landis, but also from other riders it may have implicated. In terms of credibility, that lab is out of business.

But what about the Tour? Could it be that the Tour is guilty, too? How does one punish an event?

How about taking it away from France?

Yeah, that’s right – take the Tour out of France.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about sports in the last decade it’s that athletes go where the money is and no one really cares about the venue. Sure, places like Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park are cool to play in and in some regard the athletes enjoy the history and legacy and all of that stuff. But the reality is that those places are for the fans. If you give athletes money to run, jump, throw, ride or punch in someone’s backyard, they will show up.

Actually, they’ll show up early.

In other words it doesn’t matter if the Tour de France goes through the Alps and finishes at the Champs-Élysées. All that matters is if the best (clean) riders in the world are competing against each other at the same time. So hold the race in Spain, Germany, the United States or anywhere else for that matter. Put the money on the table and let the athletes go to work.

Just don’t let the same people continue to run people’s reputations and lives into the ground... if, in fact, that's what actually happened.