Lifeline for Landis
2006-11-16 09:54
Singapore - Floyd Landis's claims of
innocence in the face of a doping charge have been boosted by
reports the French anti-doping laboratory that tested his urine
samples had made an administrative error, the American
cyclist's spokesperson said on Wednesday.
A report in French daily Le Monde that a sample had been
mislabelled helped validate the Landis team's claims that there
is enough evidence to prove his innocence, Michael Henson said.
The reported 'administrative error' "confirms one of the
many errors that Floyd and his defence team brought to public
attention in early October," Henson wrote in an e-mail to
Reuters.
"The correct identification of an athlete's sample is
fundamental to the integrity of the results management
process."
The French anti-doping laboratory (LNDD) in
Chatenay-Malabry, on the outskirts of Paris, has come under
intense scrutiny after its computer system was breached and Le
Monde reported that a clerical error had been made in the
handling of Landis's samples.
According to the report, the lab made an administrative
error, labelling Landis's B sample with the wrong number.
Tests on the rider's two samples indicated that he had
elevated levels of testosterone in his system when he won the
Tour de France in July.
Complete confidence
"While the whole of the Landis defence does not rest on
this single mistake, today's news validates our claim that
there is more than enough fact-based evidence in the public
material to prove Floyd's innocence," Henson continued.
"We requested last month additional testing information and
documentation that is within the guidelines established by
(World Anti-Doping Agency) Wada, but that request has recently
been denied by (United States Anti-Doping Agency) USADA."
Wada chief Dick Pound said, however, that he retained
complete confidence in the French laboratory.
Pound downplayed the mistake, saying it did not compromise
the results and added that he was more concerned about hackers'
ability to obtain confidential test results and information.
"For me, the big problem is the activities of hackers who
entered into the system without permission, possibly against
the law," Pound told reporters in a teleconference before
Wada's executive committee meeting this weekend.
"The code contemplates minor errors that don't affect the
validity of analysis. Ideally, you don't want there to be any
kind of errors, administrative or otherwise that may get
corrected in the process.
"We just have to wait and see. It's kind of an unusual
situation whereby it's entirely possible a lot of this
information has been illegally obtained."
Landis denies taking performance-enhancing drugs and has
accused the French laboratory of making numerous mistakes,
breaking anonymity rules and mislabelling his samples.
The American cyclist will make his case during a hearing by
the American Arbitration Association early next year.