In an unusual step, Tour de France winner Floyd Landis has been summoned  to appear before the French anti-doping agency (AFLD) on February 8, the organization'spresident Pierre Bordry told AFP on Friday.The 32-year-old American won the Tour de France last July, due in nosmall part to a remarkable effort on the 17thstage of the race. Landis, however, later testedpositive for testosterone after that stage and he has been fightingto clear his name.Bordy said that Landis would most likely be represented at the hearingin Paris by U.S. attorney Howard Jacobs.The AFLD has no power to suspend Landis, but it does have the authorityto prevent him from participating in events on French soil, including theworld's biggest bicycle race. Only USA Cycling and the UCI have the authorityto ban Landis from the sport. USA Cycling has handed off its power to adjudicatedoping cases to the U.S. Anti-doping Agency. If USADA determines that Landisis guilty of an infraction, the UCI would then automatically strip himof the Tour title.Landis then has the option to appeal the case to a three-member panelorganized under the auspices of the North American Arbitration Association.No matter what the outcome of that process, the losing side has the optionof appealing the case to the sporting world's highest authority, the InternationalCourt of Arbitration for Sport.Landis has built his defense around what he says are inconsistenciesby the French laboratory which analyzed his samples and led to his positiveresult. Landis has pointed to the recent case of IñigoLandaluze, who was acquitted of doping charges after a CAS panel determinedthat there were flaws in testing procedures carried out by the internationally-accreditedFrench laboratory at Châtenay-Malabry.Like Landis, Landaluze had tested positive for testosterone. He alsochallenged laboratory procedures, noting that his B sample was tested bythe same person who analyzed his A sample, a violation of procedures outlinedin the world anti-doping code. In its decision, CAS noted that Landaluzecase should not be considered an indictment of the process or the lab,but simply a mistake that resulted from the lab's heavy workload.Jacobs and other Landis defenders have pointed to a labelingerror that they say should result in the same outcome.The French agency head, however, said Friday that the labeling errorwas noticed and corrected in time to prevent confusion. Bordry also insistedthat the Landis case differs significantly from the Landaluze case "inone very significant way. The test on the B sample took place in the presenceof three experts including one approved by Floyd Landis."The AFLD move is unusual in that most national anti-doping agenciesdefer to the international process and do not normally make localized decisions affecting riders from other countries. TheAFLD case could further hamper any hopes that Landis might have of returning to the 2007 Tour, even if he were to be cleared by USADA this spring. While a rider cleared by his national federation could reasonably assert that he has the right to compete anywhere, he would still have to take the case to CAS in order to overturn any decision by the AFLD.