CAS to hear Landis appeal in March

Floyd Landis's appeal of a doping ban that cost him the 2006 Tour de France title is scheduled to be heard by a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) panel on March 19, the rider's attorney told Reuters.

"We are really looking forward to appealing the (US) decision and optimistic the CAS panel will view favourably for Floyd," Maurice Suh said.

The New York hearing is the American cyclist's final attempt to overturn a two-year doping ban.

Last year, a US arbitration panel upheld findings by a French laboratory that Landis had used synthetic testosterone in winning the 2006 Tour.

"We will prove, once again, that the French laboratory's work violated numerous rules and proper procedure, rendering its results meaningless and inaccurate," Suh said last year in announcing Landis would appeal the US panel's decision to CAS.

Disgraced American sprinter Justin Gatlin has retained cyclist Floyd Landis's legal team in a bid to reverse a US arbitration panel's decision to ban him for doping, the attorney said. "We plan on moving very quickly because speed is of the essence," Maurice Suh said. Earlier this month, a three-member American Arbitration Association panel suspended Gatlin until May 24, 2010 for a 2006 positive doping test, ruling it was Gatlin's second positive result.