Landis doping hearing begins with denial

Floyd Landis, winner of last year's Tour de France, kicked off his 10-day doping hearing on Monday with a denial that he had doped himself and criticism of testing procedures in cycling's top race.

Landis's attorney Maurice Suh said in his opening statement that the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) was so determined to prove Landis guilty that they had turned the case into a "holy mess".

Landis was present at the hearing which is being held at Pepperdine University, California.

Last week, the cyclist said he had been offered a reduced sentence by USADA if he offered "incriminating evidence" about fellow US cyclist Lance Armstrong, who was cleared last year of using illegal substances.

At the hearing, which concludes on May 23, three arbitration experts will determine whether Landis injected himself with the male hormone testosterone.

If found guilty of doping, Landis faces a two-year suspension and the possibility of becoming the first Tour winner to be stripped of his title.

Suh said tests on Landis's urine sample, given after he had completed the 17th stage of the Tour, had been bungled by a laboratory in Paris.

But Richard Young, attorney for USADA, defended the Paris laboratory, saying the tests had been corroborated by a wealth of evidence and had been independently confirmed.

Young said "Landis bet the house" that a second round of tests would prove him innocent.

"He lost the bet. The respondent went eight for eight positive," said Young, referring to the number of tests performed on Landis's urine sample.

Stressing the importance of the case, Suh said: "Never in the history of the Tour de France has the winner been accused of doping. This is a historic case that has to be done right."