A divided three-member arbitration panel Thursday upheld the doping accusation against 2006 Tour de France champion Floyd Landis, stripping the American cyclist of his title in the sport's marquee race despite finding numerous errors of procedure and "sloppy practice" by the French laboratory that analyzed his samples.
Some of the errors were so troubling, the panel said in its 84-page ruling, that "if such practices continue," they may result in the dismissal of an anti-doping case in the future. But in this case, the panel found by a vote of 2 to 1 that the errors were not sufficient to invalidate the lab's conclusion that Landis had taken synthetic testosterone at a crucial stage of the race.
The panel also imposed a two-year ban from competition on the 31-year-old Murrieta-based cyclist. The ban was dated from Jan. 30, when he voluntarily agreed to withdraw from racing while his case was under review, and will end Jan. 29, 2009.
The majority verdict was challenged in a blistering 26-page dissent by the third arbitrator, Christopher Campbell, a Bay Area attorney and former Olympic wrestler. Campbell argued that at a nine-day public hearing in May, Landis had proved "beyond a reasonable doubt" that the lab was "not trustworthy" and "failed to abide by its legal and ethical obligations." He said Landis should be found innocent.
Landis, in a statement issued by his attorneys, maintained that the shortcomings in lab procedures disclosed during the hearing established that the case against him was fatally flawed. He called the ruling "a blow to athletes and cyclists everywhere."
"I am innocent, and we proved I am innocent," he said.
But Travis T. Tygart, chief executive of the Colorado Springs-based U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which functioned as the prosecution in the case, said the ruling was "a victory for all clean athletes and everyone who values fair and honest competition." He called the case against Landis "just another sad example of the crisis of character which plagues some of today's athletes."
In Paris, Tour de France Director Christian Prudhomme declared the 2006 runner-up, Oscar Pereiro of Spain, the race champion. According to Agence France-Presse, Prudhomme said the arbitrators' verdict "just confirms what we knew. He cheated; he is punished."
