Landis wanted over alleged hacking
Shamed Tour de France rider issued with arrest warrent after dope lab computers hacked.
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| Landis, right, celebrates his 2006 win alongside Oscar Pereiro [GALLO/GETTY] |
A shamed Tour de France cyclist faces arrest for suspected hacking into the computer of an anti-doping agency.
American Floyd Landis, 34, was stripped of the 2006 Tour title after testing positive for excessive levels of the male hormone testosterone.
On Monday, French anti-doping agency head Pierre Bordry said a judge had issued an international arrest warrant against the rider.
Bordry said computers at the Chatenay-Malabry laboratory on the outskirts of Paris were breached by hackers who took data in a bid to discredit the lab.
“French judge (Thomas) Cassuto from the Tribunal de Grande Instance of Nanterre informed us that he had issued an international arrest warrant on January 28 against Floyd Landis…after our laboratory computer system was hacked,” Bordry told the Reuters news agency.
“It seems that (Landis) made all he could to enter into our computer system to try to prove the laboratory was wrong. He showed many documents he got by hacking to numerous sporting instances.
“The judge traced a network of hackers back to the ringleader.”
Appeal rejected
Landis, the first rider to be stripped of a Tour victory, has continually denied any wrongdoing but the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected an appeal that the positive test in 2006 was due to procedural mistakes by the laboratory.
He was banned from cycling for two years and kicked out of his Phonak team.
Landis, from Pennsylvania, was the first Tour de France winner after Lance Armstrong retired following his 2005 victory.
But his title was handed to Spanish rider Oscar Pereiro following the doping disclosures.
He returned to racing last year, saying he was trying to decide whether to follow fellow-American Armstrong’s example and ride again in the Tour de France.