Team RadioShack reveal further emails from Landis

Floyd Landis (Bahati Foundation) had a strong ride today. (Image credit: Jonathan Devich/epicimages.us)

Lance Armstrong’s Team RadioShack counsel has published a long series of emails between Floyd Landis, the Amgen Tour of California race director Andrew Messick, Landis’ close friend, sponsor and physician Brent W. Kay. Steve Johnson, CEO of USA Cycling and Steven Hess were copied into many of the emails.

Many of the emails concern attempts by Landis and Brent W. Kay to secure a place for the OUCH-Bahati Foundation team in this year’s Tour of California. Messick explains his reasons why the team was not invited. Others refer to threats Landis claims to have received.
The email correspondence ends with an email from Landis inviting Messick; Lance Armstrong and Dr. Brent Kay to a meeting with USADA on May 12.

Thank you for clarifying the position of the Tour of California on these subjects. I just wanted to be sure that I gave you the opportunity to be involved in cleaning up cycling as I have with so many in positions of power such as Steve Johnson and Jim Ochowitz but as I expected the Tour of California is interested in the status quo as were they and I wish you all luck with that. I certainly understand that my revealing that Lance Armstrong has relied on blood doping, EPO, and anabolics to win the three Tours de France in which I helped him will jeopardize your substantial investment in facilitating his appearance so from a business point of view I understand fully.

I'm in the process of arranging, within the next two weeks, another meeting with USADA in which I name the racers and staff who helped me to use performance enhancing drugs and avoid detection and am led to believe, by the stance that the Tour of California has taken, that you would be interested in joining us in that meeting so as to ascertain information about which teams to invite in the future.

As I explained in my first (recorded) conversation, I care deeply about the young people who aspire to become professional cyclists and hope that you also want them to be able to live that dream without having to make the choice about weather or not to use performance enhancing drugs without having to consider that those who control cycling are complicit in allowing dopings existance. Doping will probably never be gone for good but I'm sure you'll agree that the athletes in the future will have an easier decision if those, like yourself and Steve Johnson, in power in the sport will have made the morally and ethically correct choice at this very moment when there is a chance to reverse the trend and shed light on the magnitude of the problem.

Regarding the inclusion of Bahati Foundation team in our race, choosing the teams is a difficult job and there are always teams that we are unable to invite who feel that they deserve a spot. Our concern about the Bahati team was, and continues to be, a lack of a track record and concerns about the team's ability to handle an 800-mile stage race (concerns I raised when I met with Eric, Rashaan and Steve Owens in Los Angeles some months ago).

Thanks for facilitating the meeting with USADA, I met with them on Tuesday in LA but kept the other riders anonymous for the moment because I'm trying to negotiate amnesty for the guys that want to clear their conscience but I did admit to what I've done and offered to help make the testing better with my knowledge. They like to destroy athletes publicly and I think that is counter to their stated mission so it's going to be difficult to get. In the mean time Dr. Kay who owns Ouch has taken over as title sponsor of the Bahati Foundation team and has, months ago, bought a VIP tent for the last day of TOC and has strong interest in having the team in the TOC. Therefore I think it reasonable, in the event that you cannot add his team to the TOC, that you refund the 40K that Dr Kay has paid for the tent since, for one he has been snubbed from the race and moreover the 40K along with all of the other money that you leverage from small American teams ends up deposited directly into Lance Armstrongs account as an appearance fee.

Dr Kay, the Bahati Foundation, and I have no desire to help finance that endeavor in the event that there is no place for the Ouch team in the race especially considering that there are going to be many racers, on those small American teams, who are paid less than 15K a year and have no medical insurance so that their teams can afford to pay their way into the TOC just to have it handed to Mr Armstrong. This system has no value to the hard working, clean racing, aspiring American racers who are caught up in it, and my wealthy friends including Dr Kay and I have no desire to help to perpetuate this unidirectional flow of money. I have several opportunities for raising money for your race but it doesn't make sense to me or my good friend Dr. Kay to put any more money or effort into helping you or cycling for that matter if there is no chance of adding one more team to the 2010 TOC. Please let me know if that is a possibility at this point before I go into any more detail.

Despite countless challenges and a million reasons to abandon your cause I could never live with myself if I gave up. That is until now. I am a dead man walking and there is nothing left, everyone around us is dead or dying and I feel like something very bad is going to happen to me. I try my hardest to put on a show that I still care but it is all rapidly leaving my mind and body. You know this to be true as you have watched me cry recently during several of our discussions, and I haven’t cried in 40 years. This is killing my family and I need out.

Nobody will ever understand what you have been through except a small group, primarily our wives and I. Nobody will ever know how bad you were f--ked over except us. We are going to stand behind you no matter what, we still love you and always will. We know you didn’t do anything wrong and that you won the Tour de France fair and square. We want you back and away from all the bitterness, anger and hatred. We all feel a great sense of remorse and wish that we could have done a better job to support you but we gave you everything we had. We do not feel like you put us through this, we know how bad it hurts you that everyone had to endure this but rest assured we know it was not your fault.

But now I am going to ask you to do some things that you do not want to do. I am asking you to do these for me, Amber and Kim. No suggestions or recommendations, I am asking you to do me a big favor. You said you would like to someday pay back everyone that has supported you; this is your opportunity to pay us all back a hundred times over. I know that you do not want anything out of this but there are certain things I believe you deserve, basic human dignity being the most important.

My idea is completely in line with your adamant stance that you do not want anything out of this. I completely understand that you don’t want or need money out of this. Despite all the expert’s calculations on how you lost $20 million on this whole thing I know you need nearly nothing to live. You always talked about how your dad would never spend a dime on anything and you have the same trait, I understand that you need almost nothing to survive. I know you are true to your word after Lance accused Rahsaan of some conspiracy and/or extortion scheme and your first decision was to have the press conference immediately to prove that wrong. I take great pride in the fact that I was able to talk you out of that.

So to speak, I don’t think anyone is calling your bluff now. I am trying to make that very clear to everyone involved; Floyd has nothing to lose and he does not care about any consequences of his actions. In this matter I can only hope that I am successful. I have had a very hard time explaining this position but I suppose you just can’t explain it unless the person you are talking to has gone through it.

Anyway my personal interpretation of the situation is that cycling has repeatedly tried to “s--t you out” (for lack of a better term) and that is not how you are willing to let it go down. Despite all the positive changes that you personally have affected in the anti-doping system nobody will ever give them credence with your history. To get rid of the top guy at usada, wada, uci, and eliminate the lab are amazing accomplishments. Of course the dissolution of the French lab and all the new testing standards is testimony to the success of your endeavor to overhaul the corrupt anti-doping system.

My idea is based on a “win-win” philosophy. Of course I am no legal expert so I guess it has to go through an attorney or Lance’s attorneys have to say it’s completely fine and acceptable or something. If there is any issue about this being unlawful or some kind of wrong doing then I absolutely want out of the whole deal right now and will leave cycling for good. Its ok, I don’t have to continue. Have your press conference and be done with it, we will still be here for you. I have put my family through hell with all this and I will not be part of any illegal or inappropriate scheme. I’m satisfied with my experience and accomplishments in cycling now and there is much more out there in the world for me. I never did anything wrong and won’t start here.

The “win-win” would extend to all parties; you, Lance, usada, usac, tour of California, etc. The fight against doping would continue. The Tour of California would continue, etc. etc. It’s a simple straightforward idea and, if anything, selfish on my part. I want all these things to happen, I want you happy, I want Lance happy, I want cycling happy, I want to continue the fight against doping in sports, I want my kids to get the pleasure of seeing you and Lance together. I want you to introduce them to Lance. They were 10, 12 and 13 years old when this started and now the oldest is going to college. This has been a major part of their life, from the broken hip to the victory to the downfall. They deserve this opportunity and they deserve to be set free from all the anger, hatred and bitterness that you and I hold onto. They love you and think the world of you and are very proud to tell their friends they know you. That’s hardcore given everything we have put them through.

I am not sure Lance would even consider this but Mr. Messick did say they were willing to work with you on this. The idea is very simple and focuses primarily on basic human dignity. Like I said before, I think cycling owes you an apology and that of course is far too vague to ever happen. Although you have never said it and maybe don’t even realize it, I think what you need most is for everyone to say they are sorry that you were the fall guy, sorry that you had to take the bullet, sorry you were set-up, sorry your life was completely ruined and sorry for not doing more for you. If this was one of the top American sports, a union would have shut the other side down and none of this would ever happen. Maybe that is your calling in life when you finish riding-form and run a cycling union in the states so nobody ever has to go through this again.

Anyway my idea is for you to ride with lance on his team, have them work to re-build your image and be fairly compensated as a Tour de France Champion. Everyone, particularly the fans, would love to see this. I’m pretty sure that both you and Lance will not want to do this and that is why I am asking you to do it for me and my family. I think you have done enough good things now and have just about regained all of your champion form that they should be able to figure out the media part of it. They are the biggest and best in the world at that stuff so while it might be very challenging it should not be that difficult with your current story; you recently started working with a foundation helping black inner city kids, you have regained your previous form, you still have the whole hip story (which remains untapped) and you are a strong anti-doping advocate. In addition there never was an international arrest warrant so when this comes up it is just another lie from that lab. Don’t forget that lab tried to f--k Lance too.

You would have to chill out on that team and just do your job. You have worked with them before and everything could be settled in advance. Keep it simple and just agree to do a few races, maybe with the focus on winning the vuelta and tour of California the next couple years. I told Mr. Messick that you have no interest in doing the tour de France again as I’m sure this would be a major concern of theirs. I think you should be compensated as a former tour de France champion; I do not have much of a frame of reference with cycling salaries outside being involved with the domestic teams recently. I do know that several guys of much lower status make a million a year or so, I would hope it would be much more than this. I do not want to be involved in any type of negotiation on price, maybe you guys pick a couple top rider’s (like Cavendish/wiggins/contador) salaries and average them and that’s the number.

As far as my new team I don’t really care if you leave or not so that is not an issue. Otherwise if either side does not like this idea just throw this in the trash and be done with it, have the press conference and get it over with. But, once again, I’m asking you to do this for me and my family so we can move on with our lives and leave all the anger, hatred and bitterness behind. Thanks Floyd.

Just wanted to follow-up on our discussion 2 days ago. Following our discussion I am well aware that cycling will (once again) ruin my life, through no fault of my own, if this all blows up. To that end I want to correct any misunderstanding regarding my role in this whole thing. I am most definitely on your side as well as Floyd's, the work and effort I have put forth the past couple weeks are testament to this.

Unfortunately a number of parties have ruined my plan to help get Floyd OUT of cycling with dignity, respect and a good result from a top level race. From the beginning of the OUCH presented by Maxxis team until recently, we planned on competing for 2 seasons with the new hip and Floyd would go out on top at the Tour of California this year. This plan has been rocked repeatedly and ultimately killed by Andrew Messick and the Tour of California. They deliberately spit in our face when we had clearly displayed that we were fully qualified and capable of competing in the race. Our results from last week are clear evidence of this. We are clearly better than many of the teams entered; Spidertech, Jelly Belly, etc. This is the only reason I have fought so hard to get in.

I personally hope that you two, as Champions, can come together and put the past behind you. Without a doubt, these feuds that you (and Lemond) wage only make all of you look worse, much worse in fact, and definitely not better. You would be much better served by working together, showing respect to one another and acknowledging how great a champion each other is. If you really think about it, the 3 of you are the only ones in the world you can consider your "peers". After all you are American Champions that have won the hardest sporting event in the world. I believe that you should show a tremendous amount of respect to each other.

I believe Floyd is still capable of great things and now has a great story to go with it. Domestic racing has been a big joke to Floyd and this was the primary reason he was trying to get on a international level team after his was run out of the United team. I still think he could win the Vuelta this year and the opportunity would be plenty of motivation to get the last 10 pounds off. He has great fitness despite the excess baggage. I know neither of you can even stand the thought of this idea but Floyd winning the Vuelta for Radioshack would be pretty spectacular, for all us fans at least.

I should also point out that this email trail will make a lawsuit after my public statements appear to be what it would be, a PR stunt, rather than what a lawsuit at the moment would appear to be. So once again I'd like to remind you that calling my close friends with allegations of alcoholism and insanity will be ineffective and certainly threats of "tweeting" that if I have something to say I should just say it reflect poorly on your mental well-being and maybe seeking help is a good idea for you. Of course like I've stated, a legal course is preferable.

I'd like to personally invite you to my meeting with USADA tomorrow in Los Angeles. You've both been vocal with the press about you stance against performance enhancing drugs and USADA, being the agency empowered to deal with this problem, could use your support and any information that you can bring to the table. I'm also going to invite Dr. Kay since he has been brought into this episode as the result of a threatening phone call from Mr. Armstrong last monday and wants to know the details. I thought this might also be a good time for you, Mr. Armstrong, to clarify your position on my alleged "alcoholism and psychological disorders" with Dr. Kay in person as he has indicated to me that your assertions were taken by him as an indictment against his medical practices.