CAS upholds Landis's two-year doping ban

By Simon Hart

LONDON (Reuters) - The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected on Monday an appeal by American cyclist Floyd Landis against a two-year doping ban.

The 32-year-old American, who was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title after failing a dope test, was ordered to pay $100,000 towards the cost of arbitration over the ban, which started on January 30, 2007.

"Justice was served, as it was in the first case," Travis Tygart, CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) which imposed the ban, told Reuters in an e-mail.

"The decision sends a strong reminder that no athlete is above the rules and that USADA and WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) will do everything within its authority to protect the rights of clean athletes to compete."

Landis told reporters he was "saddened" by the ruling.

"I am looking into my legal options and deciding on the best way to proceed," he said.

USADA banned Landis after he tested positive for synthetic testosterone on the 17th and penultimate stage of the 2006 Tour.

The American denied wrongdoing and blamed procedural mistakes by the French laboratory for his positive test. Landis's attorney Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner Maurice Suh maintained that stance when giving his reaction to the decision.

"We are very disappointed in the result," Suh told Reuters. "The evidence strongly supports Floyd's innocence.

"We maintain that the French laboratory's work violated proper procedures and that these violations were not simply technical in nature. They resulted in the inaccurate findings at the heart of this case.

"CAS's decision, which does not give credence to these violations, does little to require that laboratories and anti-doping agencies are held to the same high standards as are athletes."

CAS's announcement followed a five-day hearing in New York in March. The body's three-lawyer panel heard 35 hours of testimony that included 14 witnesses and written testimony from 10 others.

The decision to uphold the sanction means Spaniard Oscar Pereiro will retain the title handed to him after Landis's ban.

(Additional reporting by Steve Ginsburg in Washington)

(Editing by John Mehaffey)