Floyd Landis to sponsor new cycling team

Disgraced American cyclist Floyd Landis has been up to some interesting things in his retirement from the sport, such as starting a cannabis product service in Colorado and winning more than a million dollars from former U.S. Postal Service teammate Lance Armstrong in a lawsuit. And now the fellow who was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title for doping is supporting a new cycling team with a portion of that settlement money and with the name of his hemp and cannabidiol business, Floyd’s of Leadville Pro Cycling Team. And it has a strongly Canadian flavour.

RELATED From Silber to Landis: How Floyd’s of Leadville came to Canada

Floyd’s will be based and registered in Canada and utilize a lot of the structure of Silber Pro Cycling, which is ending its five-year run in orange after losing its sponsor. Canadian Gord Fraser, who raced with Landis at Mercury, will switch from Silber’s sporting director to directing the new project.

Fraser told the Wall Street Journal, “Floyd’s passionate about cycling. I’d agree he’s had his ups and downs, but hopefully with this new step, he’s going to find the reason why he started racing.” Floyd’s will likely use some Silber riders and emphasize youth in its ranks.

Landis says he’s putting what’s left of the settlement money, about US$700,000, into the team.

There will be some resistance to Landis’s return in the cycling community, with debate about whether or not he redeemed himself for getting caught with excessive synthetic testosterone in his system at the 2006 Tour while racing for Phonak, losing the jersey, blaming whiskey for his adverse analytical finding and continuing to fight the disqualification for almost four years before finally admitting to doping and blowing the whistle on Armstrong and U.S. Postal Service in 2010.

Some were cool with the news.

What a day for cycling!
Landis launches his own team and Moscon is Italian TT champion

— ｆａｂｒｉｚｉｏ ​??? (@fabrizioviani) October 4, 2018

Whoa. Floyd Landis, you rock.

— Simon (@bauxoffice) October 4, 2018