Suh disappointed with Landis outcome

Floyd Landis' defence lawyer Maurice Suh has said he's disappointed with the outcome of his clients Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) appeal. CAS announced yesterday that it had ruled against the USA cyclist, which will see his original ban to January 30, 2009 stand and him pay $100,000 USD in legal costs to the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

"We are very disappointed in the result," Suh told Cyclingnews. "The evidence strongly supports Floyd's innocence. We maintain that the French laboratory's work violated proper procedures and that these violations were not simply technical in nature. They resulted in the inaccurate findings at the heart of this case."

Switzerland-based CAS panel said it concluded from the evidence presented that the "presence of exogenous testosterone or its precursors or metabolites in Floyd Landis' sample proved that he violated the anti-doping rules of the UCI [International Cycling Union]." A statement released by the organisation said the laboratory at the centre of Landis' case "benefits from the presumption that it conducted sample analysis in accordance with international laboratory standards."

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"CAS's decision, which does not give credence to these violations, does little to require that laboratories and anti-doing agencies are held to the same high standards as are athletes," added Gibson Dunn partner Suh.

While the CAS finding exhausts Landis' appeal options within the sporting arena, Landis said he would be investigating his legal options following the announcement. If Landis chose to continue his pursuit of the matter, he is able to appeal CAS' decision with the Swiss Federal Court or commence civil suits against the parties involved with the case.