Floyd Landis To Be Arrested In Connection To Laboratory Break-In

Sports News - February 15th, 2010 - Written By John Ritter

The French anti-doping agency announced another twist in the curious case of fallen cycling star Floyd Landis.

The agency's head Pierre Bordry told reporters that Landis, winner of the 2006 Tour, has failed to appear in court after breaking into an anti-doping laboratory and hacking into one of it's computers in September of 2006. An warrant for his arrest has been issued on Monday, making his civil battle with the agency now a legal one.

"French judge [Thomas] Cassuto from the Tribunal de Grande Instance of Nanterre informed us that he had issued an international arrest warrant on Jan. 28 against Floyd Landis, who tested positive for banned testosterone during the 2006 Tour de France, after our laboratory computer system was hacked," Bordry said.

Bordry had been mulling asking for a warrant to force Landis, and his coach Arnie Baker, into custody after failing to appear in court last May. Bordry had been wanting to question the pair about their involvement in the break-in, which he claims hackers took data to discredit the agency.

"If it's the only way to get Landis and Baker to explain themselves, I won't hesitate to ask the judge to resort to an international arrest warrant," he was quoted in a recent issue of the French newspaper, Le Monde.

After becoming the only American not named Lance Armstrong to win the Tour this decade, the 34-year old provided a positive drug test that discovered exorbitantly high testosterone levels.

Landis was immediately stripped of his title, and has been fighting the ruling ever since, but has yet to make progress. He argued that the laboratory made mistakes when processing his test, but a three-person arbitration panel dismissed his case.

The panel conceded "less than ideal laboratory practices, but not lies, fraud, forgery or cover-ups."

Landis had since been riding in New Zealand back in October as part of a nine-stage Tour of Southland. He also competed in the Tour of California last February.