Floyd Landis to ride the Tour of Southland

Floyd Landis has agreed to ride for the cyclingnzshop.com - bioSPORT Team in the 2009 PowerNet Tour of Southland.

Floyd Landis is an American cyclist from California, who currently rides for the UCI Continental OUCH Pro Cycling Team. Floyd turned professional in 1999 with the Mercury Cycling Team. He joined the US Postal Service team in 2002, and moved to the Phonak Hearing Systems team in 2005.

In 2006, Floyd won the first edition of the Tour of California, Paris Nice and the Tour de Georgia, before going on to finish first in the 2006 Tour de France. He was stripped of his Tour de France victory after a drug-control test demonstrated the presence of a skewed testosterone/epitestosterone ratio.

Floyd maintained his innocence and mounted a vigorous defence. Although Floyd's legal team documented many inconsistencies in the handling and evaluation of his urine samples, the disqualification was upheld.

All this time Floyd has been suffering from a hip ailment, osteonecrosis, which was revealed during thte 2006 Tour de France. This deterioration was the result of a femoral neck fracture sustained in a crash during a training ride in October 2002.

Due to the severe pain and disability cuased by the degenerative arthritis, Floyd opted for surgery but, as an alternative to traditional hip replacement, Floyd had the Smith and Nephew Birmingham Hip resurfacing procedure performed on 27 September 2006.

After serving his suspension, Floyd got back to racing in 2009 with the OUCHI Presented by Maxxis Pro Cycling Team. OUCH is a Medical Center connected to the doctors who supported Floyd through the hip resurfacing surgery.

Floyd says he is doing quite well in putting his life back together: "I wouldn't wish what I've been through on anybody. It's not easy being accused of something you didn't do and having it out there for the world to see. I didn't do it, and I'll never stop saying that. But I'm not asking for sympathy. I'm not trying to make a statement or anything by coming back. I just want to race. That's when I'm happiest in life - when I'm on my bike."