Dehydration the latest cause offered for Landis' elevated testosterone levels - Yahoo! Canada News

PARIS (AP) - Dehydration is the latest possible reason offered for Tour de France winner Floyd Landis' elevated testosterone levels.

 

After testing began Thursday on the American cyclist's backup doping sample - he showed a testosterone imbalance in a July 20 urine specimen - lawyer Jose Maria Buxeda offered another explanation for the positive finding.

 

"Maybe a combination of dehydration, maximum effort," Buxeda said.

 

But that defence was flatly rejected by one of the world's top anti-doping officials.

 

"In 25 years of experience of testing testosterone ... such a huge increase in the level of testosterone cannot be accepted to come from any natural factors," said Prof. Christiane Ayotte, director of Montreal's anti-doping laboratory.

 

"If dehydration was the case, then marathon runners would be testing positive all the time. Tennis players would be testing positive all the time. Dehydration is a medical condition that requires hospitalization. It has been invoked in the past, but not one case - to my knowledge - has been successful in this argument."

 

Speaking at the Chatenay-Malabry laboratory, which is conducting the analysis, Buxeda said he expects the "B" sample to confirm the original positive result.