Floyd Landis would love nothing more than to win a second Tour de France to make up for the bittersweet memories of last year's victory, as he fights the doping charges that could strip him of the title.
"I would like to ride down the Champs Elysees in the yellow jersey again because I need to have the proper party," he told Reuters in an exclusive interview on Wednesday.
"I feel that was taken away."
The cyclist has been battling allegations he took performance-enhancing drugs since he crossed the finish line in Paris last July and the 31-year-old has launched a nationwide speaking campaign to promote his cause against the charges.
Landis and his supporters hosted a 90-minute forum with several hundred cycling enthusiasts and after the event, the softly spoken American said he would like to have his costly legal war behind him and resume racing.
"The best case scenario would be if it ended in the next few weeks, we had a hearing and it was over, and I could race the tour this year," he said.
"But I don't really see that as a possibility, 2008 is much more likely."
Dressed casually in jeans and a grey collarless shirt, Landis fielded questions from the paying audience on his crusade against the drugs charges, his finances and his ongoing skirmishes with World Anti-Doping Agency chief Dick Pound.
"The best we could hope for out of this is the system changes and no one has to go through this again," he said.
"That it becomes more efficient and fair and at least if someone is accused of something they don't have to spend a year of their life trying to prove otherwise."
FUND RAISING
Landis and his team have cited a variety of reasons for the cyclist's positive test for testosterone following the pivotal 17th stage of the Tour.
Mislabelling and misidentification of the samples and the "radically inconsistent" testosterone-to-epistesterone ratio used by the testers are the cornerstones of Landis's defence.
"What I have to do is focus on what I'm doing now with the same determination that I spent 15 years training to win the Tour in the first place," he said.
"I'm sure this will get resolved in the right way."
The money collected during the tour will be used by Landis's defence team. Auctions were held for signed posters, signed jerseys and even a signed bottle of whisky.
Landis, a Pennsylvania native who had hip surgery four months ago, was relaxed, jovial and seemed to enjoy the banter with the crowd during the question-and-answer session.
But he was realistic about his chances of winning over the public in his campaign against the drugs allegations.
"I don't think the connection between what happened there and winning the Tour will ever go away," he said.
"Whether I change the minds of some of the people who think I'm guilty, that depends on how the hearing goes.
"My concern now is that this doesn't happen to anyone else. I really have never been treated this poorly by anybody in my life."
His arbitration hearing with the US Anti-Doping Agency appeared to be sliding from the first quarter of the year to July, said Landis, who could become the first Tour winner to be stripped of the title.
Life after cycling is something Landis has never pondered.
"I really don't know what is next," he said.
"I never put any thought into it. I single-mindedly focused on winning the Tour. At this point, I have to put the same amount of energy into resolving this case and demonstrating what the truth is."
Reuters
