THE Tour de France, and indeed the entire world of professional cycling, was plunged into a new and potentially terminal crisis with the latest in a long line of drugs revelations yesterday. The future of the race, which begins in Britain next year, and credibility of the sport now appear to be in serious jeopardy.

Floyd Landis, the American who emerged triumphant in Paris on Sunday, tested positive for testosterone after his remarkable solo victory in the Alpine resort of Morzine on the seventeenth stage. Only 24 hours before his stage win, Landis had suffered a dramatic collapse in the mountains.

“If the result of the B sample analysis confirms the result of the A sample, the rider will be dismissed,” a spokesman for Phonak, Landis’s team, said.

Landis emerged last night, having failed to show for lucrative post-Tour races in the Netherlands and Denmark, to deny cheating. In an interview with the website of Sports Illustrated, the American magazine, he was asked by Austin Murphy, a columnist, if he had cheated, and said: “No, come on, man,” though he added: “I wouldn’t hold it against somebody if they don’t believe me.”

The 30-year-old admitted that he “can’t be hopeful” that the B sample will find a different result. “I’m a realist,” he said.

Testing for testosterone is a difficult area as the substance is found naturally in the body. Several cyclists have returned tests showing high levels.

Landis has hired Luis Hernandez, a Spanish doctor who has helped other riders who returned test results showing high levels of testosterone. “In hundreds of cases, no one’s ever lost one,” Landis said.

Landis, scheduled to have hip-replacement surgery, suggested that the cortisone shots he has been taking for the longstanding problem may have had an effect. Landis also has a thyroid condition and said: “I have been taking small amounts of thyroid hormone.”

The American’s overall race victory by only 57 seconds was achieved largely because of his success in Morzine. Landis won the Alpine stage with an extraordinary 130-kilometre breakaway, recouping almost all of the eight minutes he had ceded to his rivals the previous afternoon at La Toussuire ski station, after which he appeared resigned to defeat. As stage winner, Landis was automatically dope-tested.

In a statement, Phonak said: “The team was notified on Wednesday by the UCI [the sport's governing body] about an unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone ratio in the test made on Floyd Landis after stage 17 of the Tour de France.

“The team management and the rider were both totally surprised by this physiological result. The rider will ask for the counter-analysis to prove either that this result is coming from a natural process or that this is resulting from a mistake in the confirmation. In application of the Pro Tour Ethical Code, the rider will not race until this is totally clear.”

Pat McQuaid, the president of the International Cycling Union (UCI), said last night that the test result was “totally unacceptable”. “Given the testing we now have in place, I can’t believe that individuals take chances like this,” he said. “If you look at the litany of events this year — not just this but before the Tour, we just can’t take it any more. There are no more excuses.”

Under Tour de France doping control parameters, each day’s stage winner is automatically dope-tested. The overall race leader is also tested. If the B test confirms the positive result of the A test, under Pro Tour regulations Landis is likely to be banned for four years and, according to McQuaid, may well be stripped of his Tour de France victory.

There is a precedent for such action from the UCI. Last year, Roberto Heras won the Tour of Spain, only to test positive for EPO use. The Spaniard’s title was awarded to Denis Menchov, the runner-up, and Heras is serving a four-year ban. In Landis’s case, the Tour de France title would be awarded to Oscar Pereiro, of Spain.

Phonak’s statement confirmed widespread speculation that it was indeed the Tour winner who had failed a drugs test. The news came three weeks after the Tour’s two pre-race favourites, Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso, had been withdrawn, having been implicated in the Operation Puerto doping investigation in Spain.

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