Blood Brothers

Cyclist Floyd Landis gives an exclusive tour through what he and others say is a culture of systematic doping in the sport.

By REED ALBERGOTTI And VANESSA O'CONNELL
WSJ

Nine days into the 2004 Tour de France, the U.S. Postal Service cycling team, led by Lance Armstrong, checked into a hotel near the village of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat.

It was July 12, one of two rest days on the Tour—the rare breaks that give riders a chance to rest and gird themselves for the punishing climbs and sprints that make this the most depleting event in professional cycling.

According to one of the U.S. Postal team's most prominent riders at the time, Floyd Landis, one room at the hotel had been set aside for a secret procedure.
Blood Brothers

Outside its door, Mr. Landis said, team staff members were stationed at each end of the hall to make sure nobody showed up unannounced. The riders were told before they went into the room not to talk when they got inside, he said. The smoke detectors had been taken down, he said, plastic was taped over the heater and the air-conditioning unit, and anything with a hole in it was taped over. The purpose, Mr. Landis figured, was to obscure the view of any hidden camera.

(More here.)