WASHINGTON (AFP) - Embattled 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis is more
and more doubtful of racing professionally this season even if the American
cycling star is cleared of doping charges.
In an interview with the US sports television network ESPN, Landis said he
and his lawyers have become frustrated with obstacles delaying his chance to
make his case to a US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) arbitration panel.
"I've pretty much written off this season," Landis said.
Landis, 31, said no hearing date has been set yet and none is likely before
late spring, which would be a late May or June time frame, so as a result it
would be out of the question for him to defend the Tour title even if
allowed.
No matter what the US panel rules, the loser is likely to press the case to
the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland. That would delay a
possible Landis comeback even more, likely wiping out the entire 2007
season.
"Right now I want to believe that the right thing will happen and we'll get
a fair hearing, as long as it takes," Landis said.
Landis had hip replacement surgery but cannot return to cycling until his
doping case is settled. He tested positive for synthetic testosterone after
stage 17 of last July's Tour, in which he made a miracle rally to set up a
win.
Landis has denied any wrongdoing, instead saying the French laboratory
mishandled his samples and botched the testing to create a false positive.
He had hoped to return for the 2007 Tour, which begins July 7 and ends July
29.
If Landis loses his appeal, he will be hit with a two-year ban and lose the
Tour de France crown.
While Landis said he wants to make certain he has all the evidence he needs
to make his case, he has asked a French government probe to delay its work
until his USADA case is complete, something USADA officials want done
quickly.
"We're ready to proceed. We want hearings done as soon as possible," USADA
general counsel Travis Tygart told ESPN.
Michael Henson, a Landis spokesman, said the big reason the hearing date has
not been settled is because lawyers are still trying to obtain documents
they consider crucial in preparing a defense for Landis.
Lawyer Howard Jacobs' request for technical and specific documents he
claimed were vital to the case was denied by USADA.
"It's a real uphill battle for them to get basic pieces of information they
need to conduct a fair hearing," Henson said.
Members of the three-person arbitration panel have been selected and the
hearing, under USADA rules, should come within three months of the
selection, although Henson said Landis' lawyers asked for an extension to
obtain documents.
"We feel the legal process athletes have to go through is fundamentally
unfair," Henson said. "In order for Floyd to get due process, it's going to
take longer than we originally thought."
Landis is also seeking a public hearing to be staged at Pepperdine
University Law School in Malibu, California. Such a clause has never been
invoked for a USADA doping hearing.
Landis said that while he is fit he rode only about 800 miles from the day
he won the Tour to the end of last year.
"I spend the same amount of time and energy trying to gain whatever
resources are necessary and trying to learn what I need to learn, trying to
solve this problem, as I spent trying to win the Tour. Every single day."
Landis said USADA is unwilling to admit it made a mistake by pushing the
case based on what he calls the evidence of errors by the French lab.
"They see it as a competition," Landis said of USADA. "If you're looking for
justice and trying to find out who's cheating, and you find out you made a
mistake, and you drop it, you're not winning or losing, you're seeking the
truth.
"It is a competition. It is to them and it has to be to me."
Landis said he hopes by winning he could create change in World Anti-Doping
Agency testing and judicial procedures. The group is looking at making
changes at its annual meeting next November.
"That is more important than me right now," Landis said. "A lot of the
damage is done whether I win or lose. To my way of thinking, the only good
that can really come out of this is that no one has to go through this
again."
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