Embattled 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis is more and more doubtful of racing professionally this season even if the American cycling star is cleared of doping charges.

In an interview with the US sports television network ESPN, Landis said he and his lawyers have become frustrated with obstacles delaying his chance to make his case to a US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) arbitration panel.

"I've pretty much written off this season," Landis said.

Landis, 31, said no hearing date has been set yet and none is likely before late spring, which would be a late May or June time frame, so as a result it would be out of the question for him to defend the Tour title even if allowed.

No matter what the US panel rules, the loser is liekly to press the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland. That would delay a possible Landis comeback even more, likely wiping out the entire 2007 season.

"Right now I want to believe that the right thing will happen and we'll get a fair hearing, as long as it takes," Landis said.

Landis had hip replacement surgery but cannot return to cycling until his doping case is settled. He tested positive for synthetic testosterone after stage 17 of last July's Tour, in which he made a miracle rally to set up a win.

Landis has denied any wrongdoing, instead saying the French laboratory mishandled his samples and botched the testing to create a false positive. He had hoped to return for the 2007 Tour, which begins July 7 and ends July 29.

If Landis loses his appeal, he will be hit with a two-year ban and lose the Tour de France crown.

While Landis said he wants to make certain he has all the evidence he needs to make his case, he has asked a French government probe to delay its work until his USADA case is complete, something USADA officials want done quickly.

"We're ready to proceed. We want hearings done as soon as possible," USADA general counsel Travis Tygart told ESPN.

Michael Henson, a Landis spokesman, said the big reason the hearing date has not been settled is because lawyers are still trying to obtain documents they consider crucial in preparing a defense for Landis.

Lawyer Howard Jacobs' request for technical and specific documents he claimed were vital to the case was denied by USADA.

"It's a real uphill battle for them to get basic pieces of information they need to conduct a fair hearing," Henson said.

Members of the three-person arbitration panel have been selected and the hearing, under USADA rules, should come within three months of the selection, although Henson said Landis' lawyers asked for an extension to obtain documents.

"We feel the legal process athletes have to go through is fundamentally unfair," Henson said. "In order for Floyd to get due process, it's going to take longer than we originally thought."

Landis is also seeking a public hearing to be staged at Pepperdine University Law School in Malibu, California. Such a clause has never been invoked for a USADA doping hearing.

Landis said that while he is fit he rode only about 800 miles from the day he won the Tour to the end of last year.

"I spend the same amount of time and energy trying to gain whatever resources are necessary and trying to learn what I need to learn, trying to solve this problem, as I spent trying to win the Tour. Every single day."

Landis said USADA is unwilling to admit it made a mistake by pushing the case based on what he calls the evidence of errors by the French lab.

"They see it as a competition," Landis said of USADA. "If you're looking for justice and trying to find out who's cheating, and you find out you made a mistake, and you drop it, you're not winning or losing, you're seeking the truth.

"It is a competition. It is to them and it has to be to me."

Landis said he hopes by winning he could create change in World Anti-Doping Agency testing and judicial procedures. The group is looking at making changes at its annual meeting next November.

"That is more important than me right now," Landis said. "A lot of the damage is done whether I win or lose. To my way of thinking, the only good that can really come out of this is that no one has to go through this again."

(China Daily via AFP February 1, 2007)