Sausalito, CA – Word on the streets today is that Team Rock Racing owner, Michael Ball had an altercation during the pre-prologue press conference with Floyd Landis and former Star Trek star George Takai. Ball was quoted as referring to the former star as “Space-Age Queer” and “Floyd’s new Toy Boy”. Some time later, Takei and Landis were reportedly seen smashing windows of one of Rock Racing’s controversial Cadillac Escalade team vehicles. A melee ensued between the pair and three Rock Racing riders that organizers had not allowed to start the race. Tensions were high but the scene quickly dispersed as Guarda Civil sirens could be heard in the near distance

Can you beleive this. It’s like a bad episode of Law and Order. What’s a white kid to do?

From cyclingnews.com

Landis claims deal offered for low-down on Armstrong

By Susan Westemeyer
Armstrong and Landis ride together in 2004
Photo ?: AFP

Floyd Landis has said that the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) offered him a deal to reduce his potential suspension on drug charges if he would provide incriminating evidence against Lance Armstrong “or anyone more important than me,” according to ESPN.com.

Speaking at a press conference Thursday in Los Angeles, Landis said that Travis Tygart, USADA’s general counsel, made the offer to his lawyer, Howard Jacobs, shortly after Landis’ positive test was confirmed. Landis claimed that the agency was willing “to do harm to my reputation in order to get to Lance.

“It was clarified for me that if I gave information that would incriminate Lance then I would be given a shorter sentence,” Landis said, according to the Reuters news agency. He added that he had not responded to the offer, saying, “I don’t think that offer justified a response.”

According to USAToday.com, he was offered “the lightest possible sentence,” that being “as little as one month.”

He also released a lengthy statement summarizing his arguments for his hearing, which is scheduled to start next week, and announced that he intends to file an ethics complaint against World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) President Dick Pound.

Tygert told ESPN that he is not allowed to comment on ongoing cases, but that “if Mr. Landis wants to waive the rule and allow USADA to comment, I will be more than happy to comment on his nonsense.”

Armstrong said that he was not surprised by the news, nor did it bother him that Landis made the story public. “I think Floyd has to make a case for himself,” Armstrong said, according to ESPN. “This says a lot about USADA’s methods, their tactics and their confidence in their case. He has a scientific case to fight, but it’s also a case of ethics and morals. This makes USADA look petty.

“I think it’s absurd,” he added about the alleged search for information against him. “There’s nothing to find. They’ve looked everywhere and can’t find anything. The other thing I’ve said is that it will never go away.”

The first time Floyd Landis brought up a bottle of Jack Daniels in his defense against doping charges, he earned nothing but ridicule. When he did the same thing at a San Francisco bar Sunday night, he got $700.

That’s quite a rally. link

Landis kicks ass at the TDF stage 17. Not surprising considering the foreshadowing thrown down at Paris Nice:

The crux moment arrived in Stage 6, on the way to Cannes. Halfway into the race, a group of 19 broke away, and none of the other teams were willing to help Phonak chase them down. With the gap widening and the race becoming dangerously unstable, Landis decided to send a message.

At the base of a climb, he ordered his team to the front and told them to go full throttle. They blasted for three, five, ten minutes, and when everyone behind was gasping and hurting, Landis turned to address the peloton.

“You want more of that, motherfuckers?” he asked loudly. “Because if you do, we’ve got plenty.”

A-Train tells me that Eddy Merckx’ real name is Isreal Stein.