Landis Vs. LeMond

I'm avidly following the Floyd Landis trial proceedings that are going on--thank goodness for the great bloggers who are covering it.

First off, let me say that I believe 100% that Floyd Landis is innocent. No matter the outcome of the hearing, I believe he's telling the truth. And not just because I'm a fan--I've followed this whole thing since the news first broke right after the Tour de France last year. I've looked at the evidence and read all the scientific crap. And I think he's innocent.

I don't believe anything Greg LeMond says regarding the Landis case. I think he's got pretty shaky credibility given the accusations he's thrown at Lance Armstrong in the past.

I didn't start really disliking him until last year, when he came out and publicly encouraged Floyd to come clean. I think he really wants to go down in history as being the only American cyclist to win the tour without any doping rumors hanging over him.

So the events at the trial today are a little hard for me to buy. It's awfully convenient that he just happened to get that phone call last night, isn't it? I'll be interested to see what Will has to say if they actually put him on the stand. And honestly, if Will did call him, why does it really matter? The whole testimony has no bearing on the issue--did Floyd dope or were the tests skewed in some way. Whether or not Floyd and Greg had a conversation last year and whether or not Will prank called him last night is just a smokescreen. Obviously Floyd has never been a LeMond fan. So who buys that he would've admitted guilt to him? Not me. No way.

And poor LeMond. If he was really abused as a child, is helping to bring down Floyd really worth letting his secret out?

I guess we'll just have to wait and see how the rest of it plays out. And really, maybe it doesn't matter anyway. His amazing win is tarnished forever. And no matter what the outcome of the trail is, he'll always be riding under a cloud of doubt. But not to me.