MALIBU, Calif. (AP) _ Floyd Landis' former manager was set to
enter rehab Monday, a revelation made in the hours before the Tour
de France champion was to take the witness stand for what promised
to be a hostile cross-examination.
In a letter written by Brent Kay, Landis' new manager, and posted
on the ``Trust But Verify'' blog, Kay acknowledged Will Geoghegan is
``entering a rehabilitation program today in an effort to address
his problems.''
Geoghegan called Greg LeMond last Wednesday night and, posing as
LeMond's uncle, threatened to reveal the secret that LeMond had been
sexually abused as a child if LeMond showed up to testify.
Moments after LeMond told that story Thursday, Geoghegan was
fired. When he testified Saturday, Landis said he had no idea
Geoghegan was making those phone calls.
``I knew there was a problem,'' Landis said of his reaction upon
realizing Geoghegan had made the call. ``I was traumatized having
him tell me that story in the first place. There are very few things
I can imagine would happen to a person that are worse than that. To
make light of that, I can't even put words to it.''
Kay's letter reiterated Landis' feelings.
``The past few months have been remarkably stressful for Will and
his decompensation resulted in the unfortunate and embarrassing
incident last Wednesday,'' Kay wrote. ``While Floyd and the entire
team find Will's actions regrettable and abhorrent, he is still a
friend and we wish him the best in his recovery.''
Monday's hearing began with Wolfram Meier-Augenstein, an expert
called by Landis' lawyers, who testified to the importance of good
chromatography in the reading of doping tests.
Landis contends poor chromatography _ essentially the graphing of
the results from the tests _ is responsible for unreliable results
that call into question the validity of the positive test from Stage
17 of last year's Tour de France.
Testimony is scheduled to end Wednesday. A three-man arbitration
panel will decide whether to uphold Landis' positive doping test,
which could make him the first person in the 104-year history of the
Tour to have his title stripped because of a doping offence.
