Landis says he is innocent of doping

PARIS, Aug 5 (Reuters) Tour de France winner Floyd Landis today said he had not committed any doping offence despite a positive test for excessive amounts of the male sex hormone testosterone.

The International Cycling Union confirmed on Saturday that a second sample taken from Landis had tested positive. He is now likely to lose his title.

''I have never taken any banned substance, including testosterone. I was the strongest man in the Tour de France, and that is why I am the champion,'' Landis said in a statement on his Web site.

''I will fight these charges with the same determination and intensity that I bring to my training and racing. It is now my goal to clear my name and restore what I worked so hard to achieve.'' His lawyer Howard Jacobs said he was waiting to receive full laboratory documentation for the B test.

''In consultation with some of the leading medical and scientific experts, we will prove that Floyd Landis's victory in the 2006 Tour de France was not aided in any respect by the use of any banned substances,'' Jacobs said.

Landis and Jacobs will also question the UCI's premature release of the A sample findings and the anonymous leak of the carbon-isotope test results to the New York Times on July 31, the statement said.

REUTERS PM BST1516