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PARIS – Tour de France champion Floyd Landis’ backup urine sample confirmed high levels of testosterone, cycling’s governing body said Saturday, raising the prospect that he could lose his title.
Following the results of the “B” sample, Landis was fired by his Swiss team, Phonak. He also faces a two-year ban from USA Cycling, which is responsible for sanctions against the American rider.
“The analysis of the sample B of Floyd Landis’s urine has confirmed the result of an adverse analytical finding notified by the anti-doping laboratory of Paris on 26th July, following the analysis of the sample A,” the International Cycling Union said, referring to the Chatenay-Malabry lab outside Paris.
“Landis will be dismissed without notice for violating the teams internal Code of Ethics,” Phonak said in a statement. “Landis will continue to have legal options to contest the findings. However, this will be his personal affair, and the Phonak team will no longer be involved in that.”
The confirmed test sets off what could now be months of appeals and arguments by Landis, who claims the positive finding was due to naturally high testosterone levels. He has repeatedly declared his innocence and vowed to fight the allegations — and did so again Saturday.
“I have never taken any banned substance, including testosterone,” Landis said in a statement. “I was the strongest man at the Tour de France, and that is why I am the champion.
“I will fight these charges with the same determination and intensity that I bring to my training and racing. It is now my goal to clear my name and restore what I worked so hard to achieve.”
If found guilty, Landis would become the first winner in the 103-year history of cycling’s premier race to lose his Tour crown over doping allegations. The title would go to Spain’s Oscar Pereiro, the runner-up.
Landis’ lawyer is preparing to take the case to arbitration, said a statement issued by his spokesman, Michael Henson.
The two-tiered analysis at the Chatenay-Malabry lab, which is accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency, is designed to eliminate the chance for mistakes in the first test.
Henson said this week that the rider had tested positive for an testosterone-epitestosterone ratio of 11:1 — well above the 4:1 limit.
On Friday, Henson said Landis was in the San Diego area, but no further details of his whereabouts were given.
(U)