Too Good to Be True?

Tour de France winner (at least temporarily) Floyd Landis may be in some pretty hot water. He tested positive for high levels of testosterone after Stage 17, the stage in which he made an amazing comeback and blitzed the field:

Tainted at the start, the Tour de France may have been tainted at the finish, too. Floyd Landis' Tour de France victory was thrown into question Thursday when his team said he tested positive for high testosterone levels during stage 17, when the 30-year-old American champion began his stunning comeback with a gritty charge into the Alps.

The Phonak team suspended Landis, pending results of the backup "B" sample of his drug test. If Landis is found guilty, he could be stripped of the Tour title and fired from the team.

Landis denied cheating in a story posted on Sports Illustrated's Web site Thursday.
"No, c'mon man," he said when asked if he used some kind of testosterone patch to gain an advantage.

He added that he "can't be hopeful" that a second test will exonerate him. "I'm a realist," he said.

It will be a very sad deal if it turns out that Landis was cheating. Two of the other big favorites were kicked out before the Tour even started, and now the winner may be disqualified.