Landis drops French hacking sentence appeal

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Floyd Landis has dropped his appeal over a 12-month suspended sentence handed down by a French court for hacking charges in November last year. The appeal was scheduled to take place this week.

The disqualified 2006 Tour de France champion was charged with ordering the hacking into computers of a WADA-accredited lab, but was found guilty only of receiving the hacked documents after prosecutors could establish no link between the cyclist and the confessed hackers. He could have been handed an 18 month sentence but was given 12 months.

AFP reported that, "prosecutors say Landis and coach Arnie Baker masterminded a plot to hack into the lab’s computer system to obtain documents as they sought to defend the cyclist’s name."

The French subpoenaed Landis and Baker to travel to France and testify on this matter. Neither of them went. Both Landis and Baker denied any involvement in the hacking, but authorities maintain that the pair made use of pilfered documents in Landis' defence argument.

Landis told Cyclingnews late last year that we was undecided about returning to France to contest the appeal.

"My concern about traveling to France is that they may not allow me to return home," he said, suggesting that the French authorities might like to see him behind bars.