Bad science: the instrumental data in the Floyd Landis case

Area of Science:

• Sports Science
• Analytical Chemistry
• Forensic Toxicology

Background:

• Floyd Landis won the 2006 Tour de France.
• His victory was marred by a positive doping test for synthetic testosterone.
• The Laboratoire National de Dépistage du Dopage (LNDD) conducted the analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the instrumental data and methodology used by LNDD in the Landis doping case.
• To assess the reliability of the analytical methods employed.
• To evaluate the validity of the doping violation conclusions.

Main Methods:

• Review of gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) with selected ion monitoring (SIM) for testosterone to epitestosterone (T/E) ratio analysis.
• Examination of gas chromatography combustion stable isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-C-IRMS) for (13)C/(12)C stable isotope ratio analysis in testosterone metabolites.
• Analysis of LNDD's standard operating procedures (SOPs) and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) guidelines.

Main Results:

• GC/MS analysis showed unreliable T/E ratios due to issues with extraction, GC background, peak separation, and SIM ion monitoring.
• GC-C-IRMS analysis also yielded unreliable results, citing uncertain peak identification, unsuitable standards, and flawed isotope ratio calculations.
• LNDD's methods violated their own SOPs and WADA procedures.

Conclusions:

• The T/E ratios determined by LNDD were unreliable for concluding a doping violation.
• The GC-C-IRMS results were also unreliable due to methodological deficiencies.
• The analytical methodology used in the Landis case was inadequate for confirming exogenous testosterone use.