Floyd Landis insists cycling officials made it almost impossible for him to defend himself by divulging test results before he saw them. He also claims that anti-doping officials have "misrepresented" the quality of the evidence since.

Worse still, the embattled Tour de France champion wonders whether the appeal process will be any more evenhanded.

"By what I've seen so far, I don't expect to get a fair chance," Landis said in a telephone interview from California. "But I'm hoping that will change."

Landis offered no new explanation for the elevated testosterone levels, or synthetic testosterone, found in his system after a stirring comeback ride to victory in Stage 17. During a round of media interviews that began Sunday and included all four network morning shows Monday, the cyclist insisted again he won that stage and wrapped up the race because of hard work - and nothing else.

"I put in more than 20,000 kilometers of training for the Tour. . . . I was tested eight times at the Tour de France, four times before that stage and three times after, including three blood tests.

"Only one came back positive. Nobody in their right mind would take testosterone just once," he said. "It doesn't work that way."

Landis also complained that the media learned of the test results from both his "A" and "B" sample around the same time he did, "forcing me to try and defend myself when I had no idea what was going on." The more research Landis did, the more he became convinced officials from UCI, the international cycling federation, and the anti-doping agencies had rushed to judgment - and turned public opinion against him.

"There are multiple reasons why this could have happened," Landis said of the positive test results, "other than what they're saying happened. They're saying that I added testosterone to my body in some way.

"I'm saying there are possibly hundreds of reasons why this test could be this way . . . and it appears as though there is more of an agenda here than just enforcing the rules - if you look at the big picture."

Landis used the same word, agenda, in interviews a day earlier. But asked whether anyone had manipulated the results or the timing to make him look guilty, Landis replied, "I don't have a theory on that. All I'm saying is that circumstantial evidence points to something other than just clearly enforcing the rules."

After a horrible stage 16, Landis won stage 17 in the Alps, a remarkable ride that put him back in contention to win cycling's biggest race. He still maintained the epic comeback was less of an oddity than the positive sample.

Off the bike, Landis acknowledged his biggest misstep likely was reacting to media reports highlighting every development in his case. The 30-year-old cyclist said it gave people the impression he was coming up with new explanations or excuses almost every day.

"I was just overwhelmed and I felt like I needed to say something," Landis said. "It's the first time I've been through something like this, so yeah, in hindsight, it was a mistake."