Floyd Landis’ defence that his drug tests weren’t handled properly doesn’t negate the findings, World Anti-Doping Agency chairman Dick Pound said.
Pound said that despite Landis’ contention that the test procedures were less than perfect, there was no escaping the fact that banned substances were found.
By a 2-1 decision Thursday, an arbitration panel upheld Landis’ positive doping test from the 2006 Tour de France.
The decision means Landis is no longer the race champion and faces a two-year ban from cycling, retroactive to Jan. 30.
In its 84-page decision, the majority found the initial screening test to measure Landis’ testosterone levels - the testosterone-to-epitestosterone test - was not done according to World Anti-Doping Agency rules.
