Landis fails doping test

Floyd Landis, the little-known American cyclist who captivated the nation last week with his come-from-behind victory in the Tour de France, begged for the chance to prove his innocence after producing a drug test that showed suspicious levels of the steroid testosterone, jeopardizing the title he claimed in Paris on Sunday.

The Phonak Cycling Team said it received notice Wednesday from the International Cycling Union (UCI) that Landis showed a disproportionately high ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone in a drug test administered last Thursday. UCI later confirmed that announcement, but Landis has not yet been charged with a doping violation because the analysis of his sample is not complete.

"I'm asking that everybody takes a step back," Landis said in a wavering, emotional voice Thursday night during a conference call from an undisclosed location in Europe. "I don't know what your position is now. I wouldn't blame you if it was a bit skeptical because of what cycling's been through in the past ... [but] I would like to be assumed innocent until proven guilty, since that's the way we do things in America."

Landis, 30, who is banned from competing until his case is resolved, made his biggest move in the Tour the day he later tested positive, climbing from 11th to third in the standings after a remarkable, dominant victory in Stage 17 of the 2,272-mile race. A positive test for testosterone would result in a two-year ban from the sport and nullify his Tour title, giving the crown to second-place Spaniard Oscar Pereiro.

Landis' title followed seven straight by Lance Armstrong, who was dogged by doping allegations throughout his career. No Tour winner has ever been forced to relinquish his title because of a doping violation. Armstrong, who is participating in an annual bike ride across Iowa, declined to comment on Landis.

"My immediate reaction was to look for the alcohol bottle," Landis said about receiving a faxed notification of the test on Wednesday. It was "a disastrous feeling. I had everything I could have possibly hoped for and dreamed of for the last 10 years. ... There was no way for me to tell myself it wasn't going to be a disaster, no matter what."

The testosterone positive is considered unofficial until the second half of the original sample is examined to confirm the first finding, and follow-up testing might also be required to support doping charges in this case, depending on the method of analysis used by the French lab that did the testing, according to World Anti-Doping Agency rules.

The Phonak Cycling Team said on its Web site Landis would be fired if a doping violation were confirmed. Landis, who has canceled what was to be a triumphant post-Tour de France appearance today on the "Tonight Show," said he had been consulting experts since he received word of the test but did not offer an explanation for the result.

He did note that after having fallen into 11th place the night before the test was administered, he and his teammates had all but given up on winning the Tour. In their despair, he said, they went briefly to a balcony bar for beers, then drank whiskey at the team hotel. He said, however, that he intended to find a "more reasonable explanation ... other than Jack Daniels."

He said he did not know if he had a naturally high testosterone/epitestosterone level, but he said he did not take exogenous testosterone.

UCI President Pat McQuaid said in a statement it "would be a great disappointment and unacceptable violation" if the positive were confirmed, but it would affirm sport's commitment to fighting performance-enhancing drugs.

The sport has been riddled by positive tests and accusations of guilt since police raids uncovered doping instruments among riders and teams before the start of the 1998 Tour, which led to criminal charges and withdrawals of some riders. Days before the start of this year's Tour, nine riders were banned from participating because of their connections to a Spanish doctor under investigation for blood doping.

"It's a mess," World Anti-Doping Agency chair Dick Pound said. "[Cycling] has already taken a number of body blows. ... The second, third, fourth and fifth finishers in last year's race were all busted in the Spanish thing. Now this."

Landis is entitled to be present when his B sample is tested, but he said he wasn't sure if he will exercise that option.

UCI announced Wednesday that a rider on the Tour had produced "an adverse analytical finding" in initial testing of the sample, but it did not name the rider. When Landis dropped out of a race that night in the Netherlands, citing hip pain, attention focused on him. Thursday, he skipped another planned event and his team announced the result of the preliminary testing on its Web site.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.