Friday, July 28 2006 14:16 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Zurich: America's Floyd Landis sent the Tour de France spiralling into despair on Thursday after his team announced the 2006 champion had failed a dope test.



The 30-year-old tested positive for testosterone, his Phonak team said. They also insisted that he would be sacked if the B sample confirmed the result.

Landis, the third American to win the race, could also become the first champion in the history of the Tour de France to be stripped of his title.

John Lelangue told sources he still had faith in Landis but would be obliged to apply the team's ethics code.

"We are surprised by the result but we will apply the procedure of the ethics code that we have signed," he said.

"If the result from the B sample confirms the first result, there will be dismissal," he said.

The Swiss-based team said in a statement that it was notified by the International Cycling Union (UCI) on Wednesday of an unusual level of Testosterone/Epitestosteron ratio in the test made on Floyd Landis after stage 17 of the Tour de France.

That was the stage that saw Landis claim victory after a staggering 130km solo breakaway a day after he had collapsed on the 16th stage and had tumbled down to 11th place overall, 8:08mins behind Spaniard Oscar Pereiro.

The Spaniard, who finished second overall, will be promoted to champion if Landis is kicked out.

"I would prefer to keep second place and that the first dope test wasn't confirmed," admitted the Caisse d'Epargne-Iles Baleares team rider.



Tour de France organisers said they were stunned by the news and a statement said, "If the B sample test confirms the first result, anger and sadness will dominate the feelings of all of those who had been filled with enthusiasm for the Tour de France of 2006."

The news came as mystery surrounded the whereabouts of the American champion after he withdrew from two races in the Netherlands and Denmark the day after UCI announced a rider on the Tour had failed a doping test.

The ANP Dutch news agency said Landis pulled out of a race in Chaam on Wednesday on medical advice but his reason for not appearing was not confirmed by race organisers. Landis also pulled out of Thursday's Grand Prix Jyske Bank race, the Danish organisers said in a statement.

Landis did win the Stiphout criterium in the Netherlands on Tuesday night.

This year's Tour was rocked by a drugs scandal on the eve of the race which saw nine riders, including pre-race favourites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso, barred after they were implicated in a Spanish blood-doping ring.

It was the latest in a series of high-profile drugs controversies to tarnish cycling over the past decade, with the Tour de France being particularly hard hit.

The 1988 Tour de France champion Pedro Delgado tested positive but was never punished because the substance, probenecide, found in his urine was not prohibited at the time although it was on the Olympic list of banned substances.



Apart from Ullrich, the 1997 champion currently under suspicion, the 1998 winner Marco Pantani of Italy was thrown out of the 1999 Tour of Italy the day before the final stage because of a high hematrocrite level in his blood, a pointer to the performance-enhancing drug erythropoietine (EPO).

Though seven-time winner Lance Armstrong has never officially failed a doping test, reports said that there was a positive result for blood-booster EPO during his 1999 victory. Armstrong has continually denied doping.

The T-Mobile team, who suspended star rider Ullrich and team mate Oscar Sevilla on the eve of the race after they were linked to Spain's doping scandal, said controls needed to be stiffened.

"If the B sample confirms the result, it will be a new blow for cycling," said team spokesman Christian Frommert.

"But something positive could come out of this. Everyone will know that a profound and radical change is necessary. Controls have to be improved to stop spectators thinking: 'They are taking something'," he said.

Landis's compatriot Greg LeMond, a triple Tour de France winner, said he was stunned by the news.

"I'm devastated and extremely disappointed," LeMond told sources.

"I can't imagine the disappointment for Floyd and his family. I really did believe Floyd was clean," he said.

"The problem is the sport is corrupt and it corrupts everybody. I still believe it was one of the cleanest Tours ever. But is it 100-percent clean? No," he said.

"You will always find riders who transgress the laws. I really did believe Floyd was not among them, that he was clean. Hopefully, he will be able to step up and tell the truth," he said.