PARIS -- Floyd Landis could be banned from racing in France for the next two years if the country's anti-doping agency issues a maximum penalty Thursday for his positive doping test at last year's Tour de France.
The American cyclist will not attend the hearing, but will be represented by his lawyers, Landis' spokesman Michael Henson said Wednesday in a conference call.
"There's not any of us who is against anti-doping agencies," Landis said. "What we hope for is a more American system. They don't want to provide some of the rights that would be provided to even the worst criminals in our country."
Landis' lawyers can present arguments to the nine-member panel, which includes French magistrates. The agency's president, Philippe Bordry, said Landis would receive a fair hearing.
"It's not because someone is positive that he must be automatically suspended," Bordry said. "The rights of the defense are very important."
Under French law, the agency has the right to "sanction by one or two years suspension on French soil," Bordry said. That would exclude Landis from this year's Tour and other events.
After a 2006 Tour de France stage win, Landis' sample was found to contain elevated testosterone to epitestosterone levels. He risks being the first rider in the 104-year history of the race to be stripped of his title, and Tour director Christian Prudhomme has said the Tour no longer considers him the winner.
Landis has denied any wrongdoing and argues the Chatenay-Malabry laboratory, which carried out the tests, is unreliable.
"For the root of the cause of this, I don't know if malice is involved, but clearly there was incompetence," Landis said Wednesday night at a "town-hall style" fundraiser for the Floyd Fairness Fund in New York. "I have no reason to believe there is any sort of conspiracy. I think better of people than that. But I don't know."
Henson and Landis' medical adviser, Arnie Baker, said significant errors were made by the French lab in the transportation, analysis and outcome of Landis' urine sample. They claimed Landis' sample was contaminated and said the testing procedures were unreliable.
They also maintained that Landis has been "subject to fundamentally unfair treatment by the anti-doping organizations and international sports federations."
Landis' hearing before the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency is set for May 14.
In the meantime, Landis is working on his defense and his fitness, recovering from a hip replacement 4½ months ago.
"Racing again? I most certainly have the focus and the dream, and I love to race my bike. It's sad I won't be racing this year; it's unlikely," Landis said. "Something good has to come out of it. We're trying to change the system, and that is taking as much energy and focus as I put into racing. When that goal is achieved, I'll go back to my original dream, which is winning races."
