America's Floyd Landis has been stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title after losing his appeal against a doping ban, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced today.
An independent panel of arbitrators found by majority that a sample given by Landis after Stage 17 of last year's Tour was positive for exogenous testosterone and upheld an original two-year suspension.
Spain's Oscar Pereiro, who finished second to Landis, has now been awarded overall victory.
Landis' ban is retroactive and will run until January 2009.
USADA chief executive officer Travis T Tygart said: ‘USADA brought the case against Mr Landis because, as the independent panel confirmed today, the scientific evidence established that he had committed a doping violation.
‘Here, despite the intense public pressure applied by Mr Landis and his high-priced legal and public relations team, we knew that doing what was right required staying the course and fulfilling our duty to clean athletes.
‘Today's ruling is a victory for all clean athletes and everyone who values fair and honest competition.
‘This case is really just another sad example of the crisis of character which plagues some of today's athletes and undermines the honest achievements of all those who compete with integrity.’
Landis, 31, has one month to file an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
