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Landis makes case for his defense

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NEW YORK -- Floyd Landis has launched an online offensive to contest that he took performances enhancing drugs to help him win this year's Tour de France.

The American cyclist, who tested positive for testosterone after his epic victory on stage 17, highlights what he claims are inconsistencies in the paperwork and results from the French laboratory which carried out the test.

Several hundred pages of documents relating to the case have now been posted on his personal Web site.

Landis, who is set to be stripped of his Tour de France title and banned for two years, is scheduled to present his formal appeal to a panel from the American Arbitration Society early in 2007.

He is also set to take his case to the Court of Arbirtration for Sport in Switzerland.

Early on Thursday, Landis posted a PowerPoint presentation prepared by Arnie Baker, a retired doctor and longtime coach and adviser, to make his case.

The presentation highlights a number of inconsistencies in both the paperwork and the results provided by the French lab that reported elevated ratios of testosterone to epitestosterone in both Landis' "A" and "B" samples, as well as the presence of synthetic testosterone.

Those inconsistencies were part of a motion that the cyclist's attorney, Howard Jacobs, submitted to a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency review board seeking to have the case dismissed. That request was denied last month.

Tour de France organizers are expected to begin proceedings to formally strip Landis of his title and award it to second-placed finisher Oscar Pereiro when the appeals process is exhausted.

Landis' positive test results shocked the world of sport less than a week after his triumphant July 23 ride into Paris.

In the days following the report, Landis contended that a number of factors could have triggered the result -- thyroid medication, cortisone injections he was taking for a damaged hip, his body's tendency to produce too much testosterone, even some whiskey he drank the night before his stirring win in Stage 17.

In the online presentation, Landis' experts now contend the French laboratory erred in its analysis, incorrectly labeled samples and ignored the World Anti-Doping Agency testing standards and chain-of-custody protocol, among numerous other mistakes.

"The whole process has been full of errors," Baker concludes at one point.

Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

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