LANDIS

PARIS (Reuters):

FLOYD LANDIS, who tested positive for the banned male hormone testosterone during his 2006 Tour de France triumph, has been found guilty of doping by a United States arbitration panel.

"He has been found guilty. It proves that the system works no matter who you are," Pat McQuaid, president of the International Cycling Union (UCI), told Reuters yesterday.

Landis, who is set to become the first Tour de France winner to be stripped of the title, said in a statement: "This ruling is a blow to athletes and cyclists everywhere. "For the panel to find in favour of United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) when, with respect to so many issues, USADA did not manage to prove even the most basic parts of their case shows that this system is fundamentally flawed. I am innocent, and we proved I am innocent," the 31-year-old added.

New winner

McQuaid said Oscar Pereiro, who finished second to Landis in 2006, would be the winner of the race - the first Spaniard to succeed since Miguel Indurain's last victory in 1995.

"Under our regulations, Oscar Pereiro will be declared the winner of the 2006 Tour de France," said McQuaid.

Three arbitration experts decided Landis had injected himself with testosterone after lengthy deliberations following a USADA hearing in May. Landis now faces a two-year ban from the sport. However, the American can still take the matter before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Maurice Suh, Landis's lawyer, said in a statement: "The majority panel's decision is a disappointment, but particularly so because it failed to address the joint impact of the many errors that the laboratory committed in rendering this false positive. To take each of these errors singly, is to ignore the total falsity of the result."