Jun 27, 2008 9:50 am US/Central
Landis To Get Appeal Verdict On Tour Title Monday
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (CBS) ―
Floyd Landis will find out Monday if he can reclaim his 2006 Tour de France title.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport said Friday that it will announce the result from a five-day appeal hearing held in New York City in March.
Three CAS-appointed lawyers heard 35 hours of testimony from 24 witnesses at the closed-door hearing at a Manhattan law firm.
Landis appealed to the court after an American arbitration panel ruled last September that he used performance-enhancing substances during his victory. Landis was stripped of the title, and the International Cycling Union declared Oscar Pereiro the 2006 Tour winner.
In a news release on the Floyd Fairness Fund Web site last year, Landis said: "Knowing that the accusations against me are simply wrong, and having risked all my energy and resources -- including those of my family, friends and supporters -- to show clearly that I won the 2006 Tour de France fair and square, I will continue to fight for what I know is right."
After the Sept. 20 ruling, Landis said he was unsure if he would appeal, not knowing if he wanted to spend another $2 million and the untold emotional cost of going through the process again.
In the original case, arbitrators voted 2-1 against Landis. In their 84-page decision, the majority found the initial screening test to measure Landis' testosterone levels -- the testosterone-to-epitestosterone test -- was not done according to World Anti-Doping Agency rules.
But the more precise and expensive carbon-isotope ratio analysis, performed after a positive T-E test is recorded, was accurate, the arbitrators said, meaning "an anti-doping rule violation is established."
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
