The single greatest difference between Marion Jones and Floyd Landis is that one of 'em had the guts to finally fess up, notwithstanding that she did so at the point of a gun.
I’m firmly convinced, absolutely convinced, that Floyd Landis was knowingly doping on an artificial testosterone program the whole way through the '06 Tour, and further, was taking an esoteric masking agent which was only diminished by accident on the day he drank something like 25 gallons of water or whatever on his epic breakaway. It doesn’t matter how much anyone tries to defend him, the people who count have now ALSO found him guilty, and that’s good enough for me. I would add that he almost certainly wasn’t alone - he was simply the dumb idiot who drink enough water in one day to flush out his masking agent for the day.
Still, it really bugs me that the only people who have ever tried to defend Landis are Americans. Vinokourov will doubtless hire the same lawyers, and his fate will doubtless be the same. But there’s no way I’ll see those same Americans trying to clutch at every far fetched defence to get Vino off the hook. In that context, Lance Armstrong will forever remain the Flo Jo of pro cycling - that one lucky bastard who came into incredible form unusually late in life and found the right medication combination, and the right masking agents, and the right windows of opportunity. If he dies young, like Flo Jo, I won’t be surprised at all.