Landis' backup test also positive; Tour de France title in jeopardy

For a few days, the tale of Floyd Landis looked like a Disney movie in the making. Now he appears to be headed for the History Channel.

Landis came a step closer on Saturday to being the first man stripped of a Tour de France title for doping when a backup urine sample came back positive for prohibited levels of testosterone.

With the news that his "B" sample confirmed he had taken synthetic testosterone, his cycling team, Phonak, immediately fired him, and Tour de France organizers said they no longer consider him the 2006 champion. Landis officially will keep his title, however, until his appeals are exhausted and the International Cycling Union (UCI) declares him ineligible.

Oscar Pereiro of Spain, the race's runnerup, stands to replace Landis as the winner, but it may be as long as seven months before the case is resolved. Either way, the story of the man who fell to 11th place and fought back with a stunning surge in the 17th stage won't end in a pretty way.

Landis, who has offered several excuses as to why his testosterone levels were high, but none as to why some of it was synthetic, maintained his innocence on Saturday.

"I have never taken any banned substance, including testosterone. I was the strongest man at the Tour de France, and that is why I am the champion," he said in a statement. "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."

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency now will receive documentation of the tests from the French lab that conducted them and likely will begin disciplinary proceedings that could result in a two-year suspension for Landis. If Landis is banned, he can appeal to the international Court of Arbitration for Sport, which has the final word on doping cases.

Excuses won't matter, though. Under doping rules an athlete is responsible for anything found in his or her body, and the burden is on the athlete to prove he or she is innocent.

Landis' lawyers have suggested to reporters that they will question the validity of the carbon-isotope ratio test that determined the testosterone was synthetic, and the integrity of the lab that tested him, the Chatenay-Malabry lab outside of Paris, which has been accused of mishandling specimens in the past.

Unless his lawyers can prove the lab mishandled his samples, however, Landis will be stripped of his title no matter how the excess hormones got in his body.

"Doping is the presence of a prohibited substance in your body, regardless of intent or sabotage," said Gary Wadler, a physician and board member of the World Anti-Doping Agency. "Even if he had no significant fault or negligence, he would have to give up the title" because he was doped at the time of the race.

Short of saying the lab had failed in its analysis, Landis then would have to make a case for why USADA should not ban him from competition for two years. If the court agrees Landis was not at fault, he still would face a suspension of at least a year.

Landis' employer, however, decided not to wait for legal particulars.

"Landis will be dismissed without notice for violating the team's 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."

Tour organizers also don't care to wait for the appeals process to play out.

"It goes without saying that for us Floyd Landis is no longer the winner of the 2006 Tour de France," Tour director Christian Prudhomme told The Associated Press. "Our determination is even stronger now to fight against doping and to defend this magnificent sport."