CYCLING

DEHYDRATION THE LATEST EXPLANATION OFFERED FOR LANDIS Dehydration is the latest possible reason offered for Tour de France winner Floyd Landis’s elevated testosterone levels.

“Maybe a combination of dehydration, maximum effort,” the cyclist’s lawyer, Jose Maria Buxeda, said yesterday after testing began on his backup sample.

That theory was flatly rejected by one of the world’s top anti-doping officials.

“In 25 years of experience of testing …such a huge increase in the level of testosterone cannot be accepted to come from any natural factors,” the director of Montreal’s anti-doping laboratory, Christiane Ayotte, said.

BASKETBALL

STOUDEMIRE DROPPED FROM U.S. TRAVELING ROSTER Amare Stoudemire was dropped yesterday from the U.S. roster for their trip to Asia, leaving 14 players available for the 12 spots on the world championship team. USA Basketball announced Stoudemire’s departure hours before it played Puerto Rico in an exhibition game. The Phoenix Suns forward was to miss that game and return home to continue rehabbing his right knee and await the impending birth of a child.

GOLF

WEIR LEADS BUICK OPEN — WOODS THREE SHOTS BACK Tiger Woods birdied his first five holes and closed with a 6-under 66 yesterday. That wasn’t enough to take the early lead in the Buick Open. Mike Weir matched his best round of the season with a 63 to top the leaderboard in the suspended first round, one shot ahead of two-time defending champion Vijay Singh and three in front of Woods.

INKSTER SHOOTS 66 AS WIE, WEBB STRUGGLE IN WOMEN’S BRITISH OPEN Juli Inkster has a daughter the same age as Michelle Wie and the 46-year-old won her first two majors six years before the 16-year-old from Hawaii was even born.

Yesterday, the woman seeking to become the oldest golfer to win an LPGA Tour major was much more impressive than the teenager trying to become the youngest to accomplish the feat.Inkster shot a 6-under 66 to take a three-shot lead over Sweden’s Maria Hjorth and Italy’s Silvia Cavalleri after the first round of the Women’s British Open.

FOOTBALL

OWENS MISSES PRACTICE WITH SORE LEFT HAMSTRING Terrell Owens did not practice with the Dallas Cowboys yesterday because of a sore left hamstring.

Wearing a hooded sweat shirt, shorts and a wrap on his left thigh, Owens spent most of his time slowly riding an exercise bicycle. He stopped pedaling to do a situp drill and another with a medicine ball. In between, he spent several minutes talking to owner Jerry Jones.

The injury doesn’t seem to be serious. Owens smiled often and his conversation with Jones seemed lighthearted. At one point, Jones pointed to his own hamstring.They shook hands and Jones tapped a punch on Owens’s shoulder as they parted.

ROETHLISBERGER SAYS HE’S READY TO PLAY Ben Roethlisberger pronounced himself fit for the Steelers’ first preseason game and said yesterday that coach Bill Cowher would have to “hold me back” from playing nine days from now in Arizona.

It was a departure from Roethlisberger’s comment following Sunday’s campopening practice that his playing is “always Coach’s call.”

The turning point for Roethlisberger was Wednesday night’s practice at a highschool stadium in downtown Latrobe. In front of a record crowd at Memorial Stadium, he looked like the Roethlisberger of old.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

STOOPS: BOMAR KNOWINGLY BROKE NCAA RULES Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said yesterday that the school acted quickly when it found out that starting quarterback Rhett Bomar and offensive lineman J.D. Quinn broke NCAA rules through their employment at a car dealership.

Stoops said he had not been aware that Bomar and Quinn were working at the dealership last fall until Oklahoma’s compliance staff investigated the situation.The coach said he didn’t rush to a decision but considered it “fairly cut and dry.”

Stoops said the players, who were dismissed from the team Wednesday, “knowingly” broke the rules. “Both parties were aware that their actions were in violation of NCAA rules. They did it over a long and extended period of time,” Stoops said. “That’s conduct that we won’t tolerate here at the University of Oklahoma.”

— Associated Press