Floyd Landis' camp praised French Sports Minister Jean-Francois Lamour for requesting a postponement of next week's hearing by the country's anti-doping agency.
Landis, whose urine sample for a Tour de France stage was found to contain elevated testosterone to epitestosterone levels, has been summoned to appear before a nine-member panel of the French anti-doping agency on Thursday.
However, Lamour, who was speaking in his role as vice-president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said Friday it would be ``preferable'' to wait until after a March hearing on the case by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.
``We recognize and appreciate his contributions to this end,'' Landis spokesman Michael Henson said in a statement late Friday. ``His reasoned approach is consistent with Floyd's goal of defending this case on the merits.''
Although Lamour stressed it was only his personal appearance, Henson agreed, saying ``a fair and reasoned approach is both achievable and desirable for Floyd and for the integrity of the anti-doping organizations.''
The French panel could ban Tour de France winner Landis from racing on French territory, potentially keeping him out of future Tours. Tour director Christian Prudhomme previously said he does not consider Landis the 2006 Tour winner.
Landis is not expected to attend the French hearing, where he is to be represented by a lawyer.
The cyclist has disputed the results reported by France's Chatenay-Malabry laboratory and questioned the lab's procedures. He has said his urine sample was mishandled and the analysis based on ``flawed science.''
``We will continue to demand that USADA and other prosecutive authorities comply with their obligations to find the truth, rather than adopt a ``win at any cost'' attitude,'' Henson said.
