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SPORTS JULY 3, 2010

The Case of the Missing Bikes

By RE ED AL BER GOT T I And VANE SSA O'CONN ELL

To Floyd Landis, one of the mysteries of his time with the U.S. Postal Service cycling team was why more new
bikes weren't available for the riders. He eventually struck on one possible answer: the team was selling
equipment to the public to raise cash.

In March 2004, during an eight-day race from Paris to Nice,

Blood Brothers
Mr. Landis said he was in position to win the sixth stage when
Cyclist Floyd Landis gives an exclusive tour
through what he and others say is a culture of
his bike frame snapped. He blamed the mishap on the bike's
systematic doping in the sport. carbon frame, which, he said, had been weakened by wear and
Blood Brothers: Spilling Cycling's Secrets tear.
Armstrong Addresses Latest Landis
Allegations After the race, Mr. Landis recalled, he found Johan Bruyneel,
the director of the U.S. Postal Service team, and told him he
needed a brand-new bike. According to Mr. Landis, Mr. Bruyneel told him the team didn't have enough
equipment to allow every rider to always have new bikes.

Mr. Landis said he didn't believe Mr. Bruyneel. Some time after the race, he said, he placed a call to Scott
Daubert, a representative from the team's official frame maker, Trek Bicycle Corp., and also to Wayne Stetina of
the component manufacturer Shimano Inc., which supplied the team with things like pedals.

In those conversations, Mr. Landis said, he learned the team was given enough frames and components to make
about 120 bikes a year. After doing some rough calculations, he said, he determined the team was missing about
60 bikes.

A few weeks later, Mr. Landis said, he had dinner with Bart
The Dark Side of Cycling
Knaggs of Capital Sports & Entertainment, the company that
acts as an agent for lead U.S. Postal rider Lance Armstrong;
Geert Duffeleer, the team's cook and a personal assistant to Mr.
Bruyneel; and at least two other riders.

At the dinner, Mr. Landis said, he told the group he had talked to
the sponsors and believed at least 60 bikes were unaccounted
for.

The next day, Mr. Landis said, he got a phone call from Mr.
View Interactive
Bruyneel, who was angry that Mr. Landis had contacted the
For Landis, a New Start sponsors. According to Mr. Landis, Mr. Bruyneel told him that
the money raised from equipment sales helped pay for doping.

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The Case of the Missing Bikes - WSJ.com
View Slideshow
Michal Czerwonka for The Wall Street Journal
Professional cyclist Floyd Landis talks on his
cellphone at a bar in Idyllwild, Calif.
Cycling Snapshots
View Slideshow
Jack Guez/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Take a look at snapshots from cyclist Floyd Landis's
career.
Decades of Doping
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Branger/Roger Viollet/Getty Images
Henri Pelissier in the 1923 Tour de France.
Blood Brothers: Spilling Cycling's Secrets
Write to Reed Albergotti at reed.albergotti@wsj.com and Vanessa O'Connell at vanessa.o'connell@wsj.com
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Messrs. Duffeleer, Knaggs and Bruyneel did not respond to
messages seeking comment.
David Clinger, another teammate of Mr. Landis's on the 2002
U.S. Postal team, said he had heard that team bikes were resold,
although he didn't know what the money was used for. "They sell
the bikes online," Mr. Clinger said. "They can get $10,000 or
$20,000, if the bike was ridden by Lance."
Mr. Clinger said that he once refused to use a bike for a race
because he thought it was too worn out. He said he argued with a
team mechanic until Mr. Bruyneel told the mechanic to give him
a spare bike. According to Mr. Clinger, the mechanic told him
the team had to sell these bikes at the end of the year, so was
trying to keep them as clean as possible.
Federal investigators have contacted one of the team's sponsors,
Trek Bicycle Corp., and asked about the sale of bikes, according
to a person familiar with the matter.
Robert Burns, general counsel for Trek, said the company was
aware that bikes meant for U.S. Postal riders were being sold,
but said it didn't know what the money was used for.
"Occasionally, you'd see a bike on the Internet somewhere where
it would surprise us," said Mr. Burns, who recalled an instance
where one of the team bikes was sold in a bike shop in Belgium.
There wasn't much Trek could do to stop such sales. "Once that
stuff goes to the director sportif and the mechanic of the team,
it's in their possession," Mr. Burns said. He declined to comment
about whether Trek had been contacted by investigators.
About three years ago, Trek began writing into its contracts that
the pro teams it sponsored had to pass the bike frames on to
their junior teams. "We just got more specific about it,"
explained Mr. Burns. "We didn't want to see that stuff getting
sold on the market. It should be going to a better use than that."
A Shimano spokesman said the representative Mr. Landis said
he called in 2004, Mr. Stetina, did not recall specific
conversations about components. "Once teams get that
equipment, obviously, it goes without saying the general intent is
that it's used for training and racing," the spokesman said.
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