American cyclist Floyd Landis has lost his expensive and spectacular doping case appeal, and could be stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title.
An arbitration panel ruled 2-1 that Landis used synthetic testosterone to aid his remarkable comeback in the 17th stage of last year's Tour. Landis made up nearly eight minutes on the race leader and went on to win the three-week race.
The arbitration panel found that while Landis's original urine test was unreliable, a more extensive analysis was accurate and indicated he had cheated.
The cyclist has protested his innocence and insisted he was a pawn in an anti-doping plan to keep money flowing to testing labs. The American can appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.
If the CAS rejects his appeal, Landis would face a two-year ban and would have to forfeit his Tour de France title. Tour de France organizers have said they no longer consider him the 2006 champion.
Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.
