Embattled Tour de France winner Floyd Landis received a boost in his fight against a positive doping test from French lab records that show a protocol violation, the Los Angeles Times reported on Friday.

The newspaper reported Tuesday that the French laboratory which found the positive results against Landis had two technicians, involved in the original urinalysis and the confirming test, validating their own findings.

Such access to both samples violates anti-doping regulations and supports Landis's contention that numerous errors in the chain of care regarding the tests and samples should invalidate the doping positive.

A similar mistake made by the same lab in 2005 resulted in the dismissal of doping charges against Spanish cyclist Inigo Landaluze in December, the Times reported.

The French lab records were given to Landis's lawyers, and subsequently reviewed by the newspaper, ahead of a May 14 hearing before a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency arbitration panel, at which Landis will make his case to have the doping violation thrown out.

Landis, 31, would be stripped of his Tour de France victory and given a two-year ban unless the positive is thrown out under World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appeal guidelines.

Landis also faces a French government probe, but that has been delayed until after the U.S. inquiry following the American's promise not to race in France this year, ending any chance to defend his title.

Landis's lawyers want to question the technicians, Esther Cerpolini and Cynthia Mongongu of Laboratorie National Depistage du Dopage in the Paris suburb of Chatenay-Malabry.

It was unclear from the paperwork if Mongongu and Cerpolini had roles significant enough in both tests to invalidate the positive finding.

But arbitrators last December in Landaluze's case declared it is "forbidden that the same analyst handles or manipulates" original and validation samples, adding, "the applicable rule is clear and devoid of any flexibility."

Other lab records undermine the case against Landis, including one document altered anonymously after Landis questioned its accuracy then declared original after alteration, potentially by lab employees or French anti-doping officials.

Another shows the machine that produced the reading which showed artificial testosterone in Landis's system was operated outside manufacturer guidelines and with outdated software designed for another machine, factors Landis claims could cause errors.

Lab documents linked Landis to the sample in question, a violation of anonymity requirements.

Attorneys for Landis have filed a detailed request for many more lab documents and want depositions from lab personnel.

Papers filed with the three-person US arbitration panel show USADA wants retesting of nine "B" samples of urine from Landis tests even after "A" samples were clean in hopes of more evidence against the cyclist, the Times reported.

Landis attorneys argue such retesting of clean samples violates anti-doping rules requiring "A" and "B" sample matches for a test to be declared positive. Some "A" samples of Landis tests no longer exist.

In a closed-door session on Thursday, the arbitration panel considered both the Landis document and testimony requests and USADA's retest requests.