Floyd Landis, facing the loss of his Tour de France crown in a doping scandal, won't appear as scheduled Friday on comedian Jay Leno's "Tonight Show," but will appear via satellite on CNN's "Larry King Live."

"Tour de France winner Floyd Landis is no longer scheduled to appear on'The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,'" a statement from "Tonight Show" network NBCconfirmed on Friday.

In fact, Landis was still in Europe on Friday, giving a press conference in Madrid in which he protested his innocence. Landis tested positive for an abnormally high Testosterone/Epitestosterone ratio, which showed up after his staggering solo 130km breakaway win in race stage 17.

The result still had to be confirmed by a B sample test, but Landis said he was prepared to battle to prove that the levels "are absolutely natural and produced by my own organism."

Despite losing Landis as a guest, Leno was able to get some mileage out of the situation on his show on Thursday night.

"Floyd Landis was supposed to be on the show tomorrow but he cancelled. "I was surprised," Leno quipped. "Hey, Hugh Grant showed up after he had a problem with too much testosterone."

British actor Grant was arrested in Hollywood in 1995, having been caught in a sex act with a prostitute in his car. His sheepish apology on Leno's show helped win back fans.

Of Landis, Leno added: "I'm going to go out on a limb and predict they clearhim," remarks that drew applause from his television studio audience.

NBC said they hoped to be able to schedule Landis on the show when he returned to the United States.

Meanwhile CNN confirmed that Landis would appear via satellite on "Larry King Live," to be broadcast in the United States on Friday evening.