Landis won't talk about doping ban

<p>PASADENA — Before Floyd Landis’ first formal press conference in more than two years here on Saturday, the media were given a directive: Questions of Landis had to be restricted to the present and the future.</p><p>In other words, no probing Landis about his positive test for synthetic testosterone that stripped him of the 2006 Tour de France title, his resulting two-year doping ban, his major hip surgery, his divorce and his reported financial woes.</p><p>With those topics out of bounds, questions centered on Landis’ experience at the Tour of California, his first race in 2½ years.</p><p>And while Landis’ return hasn’t exactly been a blast — he’s been ill, crashed near the end of Stage 1 and is in 35th place, more than 10 minutes out of the lead — it seems as though it’s been more fun than his recent past.</p><p>Landis was, by turns, funny and engaging during a 10-minute meeting with the media in a room in the bowels of the Rose Bowl.</p><p>Landis, 33, is riding for Team OUCH, a first-year Professional Continental team based in his current home of Temecula, about 50 miles from San Diego. As a rider on a U.S. Continental team, the lowest rung of professional racing, Landis will ride a strictly domestic schedule this season.</p><p>“It feels good to be back,” Landis said. “I don’t know exactly what the long-term goals are at this point. Like any stage race, it gets to the point where your goals become very shortsighted. For example, now I’m going to try to find a place to lay down. Hopefully after the race is over I can reassess what I want out of this.”</p><p>Due to his familiarity with the San Diego area, Landis was quizzed about today’s final stage, a 96.8-mile journey from Rancho Bernardo to Escondido, which includes a climb up 5,123-foot Palomar Mountain.</p><p>Landis couldn’t offer much insight for the hard-core cycling enthusiast.</p><p>“I’ve never ridden up it before,” Landis said. “My experience there usually involves having a burrito at the bottom.”</p><p>Perhaps due to the pre-press-conference guidelines, Landis seemed relaxed and had the room full of reporters laughing on several occasions.</p><p>At the end, however, a reporter tried to slip in an indirect question regarding Landis’ recent tribulations: Did Landis find that people were still interested in asking him questions about his troubles?</p><p>In response, Landis paused for a moment, seemingly considering his options.</p><p>Then he answered, “I don’t know if I want to answer questions about questions about the past,” he said.</p><p>As the room erupted in laughter, a smiling Landis stood and left the podium, walking to a future that couldn’t be any worse than that thing he’d rather not discuss.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Eric Branch at 521-5268 or eric.branch@pressdemocrat.com</p>