Tour winner Landis hit by new failed tests

PARIS: Urine samples from cyclist Floyd Landis taken during his contested win in the 2006 Tour de France have tested positive for the banned substance testosterone, L'Equipe sports daily reported on Monday.

On its website, L'Equipe reported that 'B' samples belonging to the American had been tested retrospectively following a request from the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).

However French anti-doping agency president Pierre Bordry said that although the analyses had been carried out, the results were not yet known.

He said that seven 'B' urine samples belonging to Landis, which were marked only by a number, were analysed alongside several other anonymous samples, none of which are identifiable.

Leading the prosecution case against Landis, USADA successfully appealed to an arbitration panel that the seven 'B' samples be tested at the French laboratory which processed his original, and disputed, positive test.

Landis, who denies taking performance-enhancing drugs, has charged the Labaratoire National Depistage de Dopage's (LNDD) laboratory at Chatenay-Malabry outside Paris with mis-handling his original samples.

He has said he would prefer the samples to be tested at the University of California at a Los Angeles accredited laboratory.

Landis's spokesman Michael Henson reacted immediately to the news on the L'Equipe website.

"Under the orders of the USADA, Paul Scott (Landis's expert) was denied access to the LNDD," he said in a statement.

"Hence, the analyses of two samples were carried out without Landis representatives, something which constitutes a violation of his rights and casts a serious shadow over the integrity of an already suspect procedure."

Landis, 31, is in danger of being stripped of his Tour de France victory and given a two-year ban.

The American, whose positive test from stage 17 of the 2006 race prompted the collapse of his Phonak team, also faces a French government probe but that has been delayed until after the inquiry following his promise not to race in France this year, ending any chance to defend his title.