Landis: They Wanted Me To Squeal On Lance

Floyd Landis claims the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's lead attorney approached his lawyer offering "the shortest suspension they'd ever given an athlete" if Landis provided information that implicated Lance Armstrong for doping.

Landis said he made the Armstrong allegations public Thursday not because he planned to use it as evidence when testimony begins Monday in his arbitration hearing, but to show the lengths USADA will go to in prosecuting athletes.

The public arbitration hearing starts Monday, and the stakes are higher than just the possible two-year ban Landis could face if he loses. He would be the first rider in the Tour's 104-year history to be stripped of the title, and he says he'll retire if he loses and can't get the result overturned in appeals.

But the 31-year-old cyclist doesn't think he's going to lose. And he wants to use the 10-day hearing at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., to deliver a knockout to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the group underwritten by the American government and the U.S. Olympic Committee that Landis claims is fundamentally corrupt.

"If they lose this, they cease to exist. I don't see any other way," Landis said. "It would be no point in them going on.

"They've made such bold statements about how sure they are that this is the truth that there would be no point in ever accusing anyone again after I demonstrate that I'm innocent."

Despite a positive test for elevated levels of testosterone to epitestosterone after his stirring comeback victory in Stage 17 of last year's Tour, Landis insists he never has used performance-enhancing drugs.

The offer to implicate Armstrong "was offensive at best," Landis said during a teleconference from Los Angeles. "It speaks to the character of the prosecution."

The 2006 Tour de France champion said USADA general counsel Travis Tygart approached his attorney, Howard Jacobs, with a deal shortly after learning of Landis' positive doping test during the Tour.

He said Jacobs characterized the conversation as one in which USADA would offer a deal if Landis passed on information about seven-time Tour champion Armstrong "or information about someone more important than me."

Over the years, Armstrong has fought doping allegations that have never been proven.

As for what he told Jacobs when the attorney passed on the information: "I don't think that offer justified a response," Landis said.

Jacobs did not immediately return messages left at his office by The Associated Press, and Tygart held to USADA's restriction on commenting about ongoing cases.

"If Mr. Landis will waive the rule and allow me to comment, then I'll be happy to address his nonsense," Tygart said.

USADA has a history of reducing penalties for athletes who provide evidence of doping violations by other athletes, though asking for information about specific athletes is not allowed.

About 20 percent of the cases that have begun with an "adverse" drug test have been thrown out early in the process because of lack of evidence. But USADA does not lose cases when they reach the arbitration stage.

Armstrong and Landis are former teammates who went through an unfriendly split in 2004, but Armstrong has publicly supported Landis and been an outspoken critic of the way anti-doping agencies do business.

"I believe in Floyd, I believe he hasn't had a fair shake," Armstrong said recently.

The Armstrong revelation was the latest in a string of allegations Landis has levied against USADA and anti-doping authorities as he puts the final touches on his defense.

Over the past several months, he has toured the country to drum up support and money for his defense. He says the leak of the positive doping test last July damaged his reputation, and he's not even sure a victory in arbitration will repair all that.

Since being accused of doping, Landis has created the Floyd Fairness Fund Web site, through which he has raised more than $500,000 to help pay for his defense.

In the past, hearings had been closed to the public in part to protect athletes from embarrassing revelations. But at Landis' request, this hearing will be public. Landis wants to use the hearing to expose what he says is the fraudulent way the anti-doping people do business.

"The fact is that the people doing the testing, the people accusing the athletes, are far more unethical than the athletes," Landis said.