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Landis tells New Zealand newspaper he's unlikely to ride again in Tour de France

By: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

31/10/2009 11:36 PM | Comments: 0

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - American cyclist Floyd Landis has told a New Zealand newspaper it is unlikely he will compete again in the Tour de France.

Landis, 34, who is in New Zealand to ride the six-day, nine-stage Tour of Southland, told the Herald on Sunday newspaper that politics in cycling would likely prevent him contesting the world's premier cycling road race.

Landis won the 2006 Tour de France, but was disqualified and banned for two years when doping tests revealed abnormally elevated testosterone levels. He returned at the Tour of California in February.

"I don't think it's a possibility next year, or ever, for that matter," Landis said of the Tour de France.

"I can't foresee what the politics in cycling will possibly lead to but the organizations in control are not working well together. There are people caught in the crossfire and I happen to be one of them, so I don't know if the opportunity will come up again. I would like to. But it's very sensitive."

Landis said there are problems between the sport's governing body UCI and Tour organizers.

"I would need a team to invite me and they would have to be willing to take the risk that they wouldn't be used as some sort of (pawn)," he said.

"The UCI and Tour de France don't get on well at the moment and they like to use whatever they can, whatever pawns are in the middle, to try to make a point. Most teams are afraid of giving them any reason to make them the pawn."

Landis said he was happy to be riding competitively again but was not driven since his ban ended by any sense of personal redemption.

"I knew there would be a time when I would be allowed to race again," he said. "There were times when I wasn't particularly motivated to do so. There were other times when I enjoyed riding my bike again.

"At no time did I feel I needed to come back for some kind of redemption. My motivation in bike racing is never of that nature anyway. I like to compete and set goals. That's still the same."

The Tour of Southland, which starts Monday, has attracted a record field of 125 riders.

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