The prosecutor's office in a Paris suburb Nanterre has opened a preliminary investigation after hackers broke into the computer system of France's leading anti-doping laboratory.
The prosecutor said Tuesday that hackers broke into computers at the Chatenay-Malabry lab, which is accredited by the International Olympic Committee and World Anti-Doping Agency. They also allegedly stole data and sent letters to other organizations questioning the reliability of the lab's results.
It is the same lab that analyzed the samples which indicated that American cyclist Floyd Landis had elevated levels of testosterone in his system when he won the Tour de France in July.
Tour de France organizers no longer consider Landis the Tour champion. Landis will contest the test results in hearings before the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. If found guilty of doping, he would be formally stripped of the title and face a two-year ban.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.