Cycling: Arrest warrant issued for Landis

Floyd Landis. Photo / Janna Dixon

PARIS - A French judge has issued an international arrest warrant for US cyclist Floyd Landis in connection with a case of data hacking at a doping laboratory, France's anti-doping chief said today.

Pierre Bordry told The Associated Press that French judge Thomas Cassuto is seeking to question Landis about computer hacking dating back to September 2006 at the Chatenay-Malabry lab. Months earlier, the laboratory near Paris had uncovered abnormally elevated testosterone levels in Landis' samples collected in the run-up to his 2006 Tour de France victory.

Landis was stripped of his title and banned for two years.

The American cyclist unsuccessfully challenged the drug test results before an arbitration hearing in California - claiming that computer files were mishandled and erased.

"Landis used the hacked files for his defence, that's how we discovered the whole scheme," Bordry said. "He wanted to show that the lab made mistakes in the handling of the tests."

The French judge, who is based in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, issued the warrant January 28 because Landis did not respond to a summons in November, Bordry said.

Bordry added that Cassuto also issued an international warrant for Arnie Baker, a retired doctor and longtime Landis coach and adviser.

- AP