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Doping on the Tour de France

Doping on the Tour de France

Date: Aug 22 2006

Intro

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The Tour de France is over, but we still don’t know who won. That’s because the winner, Floyd Landis, has been accused of doping. When a second drug test was positive for synthetic testosterone, Landis lost the title and was fired from his team. But he swears he’s innocent, and plans to appeal. So we won’t know who really won the Tour de France for months.

Sadly, Floyd Landis isn’t the first cyclist to be suspected of doping. Five of last year’s top finishers were kicked out for doping before this year’s race began. With so much controversy surrounding the Tour de France, is this century-old race losing its credibility?

Amanda and Logan wonder if Landis is innocent. Check it out.

Dialog

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Logan

Logan

Amanda

Amanda

Logan:  Did you watch any of the Tour de France?

Amanda:  I actually didn’t catch any of the race.

Logan:  The last two or three years, Lance Armstrong’s been winning it, and the last time he won, he was accused of doping. And so now, this year, Floyd Landis...

Amanda:  Yes.

Logan:  He’s accused of doping and he actually tested positive. The whole time he was denying it, that he was on some kind of performance enhancing drug and, just, until he got tested, and now they’re taking the title away from him.

Amanda:  And isn’t that the first time in Tour de France history that a title has ever been taken away from…

Logan:  I believe so.

Amanda:  Yeah.

Logan:  Yeah. When you saw him on TV, you’d see him… this, just, look on his face of… and… when they asked him if he was doping or not. And he’d always pause, he’d look to the left or the right and then he’d say no. And then… I mean, a week later, even the, the uh, broadcasters were saying that he’s gonna come up positive. They just, they just knew it ‘cause the guy came from, I think it was stage 17 or whatever the stage was and he came back from like seven or eight minutes down, which is unheard of almost, unless you’re Lance Armstrong but…

Amanda:  Of course.

Logan:  So yeah, there’s just all that…

Amanda:  So basically he denied and lied the whole way through. But didn’t they take two samples? Both turned up positive? How do you keep denying and lying when you have the test results?

Logan:  He’s just giving himself a bad reputation. And it’s just turning into this… yeah, I mean, he’s just, I don’t… every time he races now, even if he, if he comes back for the Tour de France next year, he’s just gonna have this label, this stigma on him that he’s just never gonna be able to…

Amanda:  I think there are so many people in the public that have no care in the world for cycling, but all of a sudden because of this, everybody knows his name.

Logan:  Oh yeah, brings it into the spotlight.

Amanda:  And they know his name for the wrong reason.

 

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Discussion

Logan and Amanda are right. A lot of people are paying attention to the Tour de France now. Doping has put it in the spotlight. Amanda doesn’t understand how Landis can continue to lie. And Logan agrees that Landis seems to be guilty.

Do you think Landis is guilty or innocent? Do you think he should lose the title? Should he be allowed to race in the Tour de France again? What do you think about doping? What sports do you watch?

 

Comments

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rehab_gad2000

Egypt

If he tested positive I think It is a matter of ethics.it unfair competition.

11:11 PM Aug 27 2006 |

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