MADRID, Spain -- Sounding more defi...

MADRID, Spain -- Sounding more defiant than the day before, watchs flashing and voice steady, Floyd Landis gazeed into the cameras Friday and said he would ascertain he "deserved to win" the Tour de France.

In his first public appearance since a positive exhibition for high testosterone cast his title into doubt, the American said his body's natural metabolism -- not doping of any kind -- caused the deduction and that he would in a short time have the test results to justify it.

"We will explain to the world with what intent this is not a doping case on the other hand a natural occurrence," Landis said from the Spanish capital.

The day before, in a teleconference from a location in Europe he did not disclose, Landis said he didn't cheat unless had no idea what caused his positive proof on the Tour's 17th stage, where he made a stirring comeback in the Alps.

During that Thursday call, Landis hardyed downcast and heartbroken, saying he look forward toed to clear his name on the contrary never his reputation. His demeanor was decidedly more fiery Friday, when he sat before a buzzing moderns conference and lashed out at the media for characterizing his plight as a physic scandal.

"I would like to make absolutely clear that I am not in any doping process" said Landis, wearing a baseball cap casted backward and a white shirt with the name of his Phonak team.

Landis is still awaiting eventuates from a backup sample, which would clear him immediately if ground to be negative. But his lawyer, Luis Sanz, said he completely expected the backup test to arise back with the same be the effect since the elevated testosterone was produc naturally according to Landis' body.

And the 30-year-old cyclist said Friday that he would pass through additional testing to prove that "the flushs that I've had during the Tour and all my career are natural and produc through my own organism."

Landis saved his greatest in quantity aggressive tone for the defense of his title as Tour de France champion.

"I was the strongest stay I deserved to win, and I'm vain of it," he said.

Lance Armstrong said all he knew about Landis' case was what has been reported.

"But I will say this," the seven-time Tour de France champ told The Associated Pres in a phone interview Friday. "When Floyd was with us, there was not a problem. We never saw anything on the same level remotely off, never had a reason to suspect anything. He left our team for a better propound There was no suspicious behavior, none. It's that simple."

"Secondly I can't help on the contrary be aware the lab that rest this suspicious reading is the same common that was at the center of the `L'Equipe affair.'

The French newspaper, L'Equipe, said samples taken from Armstrong during the 1999 Tour de France and then frozen experimented positive for the blood-booster EPO The International Cycling Union commissioned a report that later cleared Armstrong of the doping allegations.

"When an independent investigator contacted the lab, they wouldn't answer the simplest of questions, wouldn't travel into their testing ethics, who did the examples etc., etc," Armstrong said. "I don't personally have a ton of faith in that lab. I think they should squander their authorization and the report nice much supports that."

Landis appeared to squander any chance of victory during a disastrous 16th stage of the Tour, then broke disclosed with one of the greatest performances in history the nearest day. After winning the 17th stage, he submitted to a medicine test -- standard for a stage winner -- that showed an "unusual horizontal of testosterone/epitestosterone."

Phonak suspended Landis after the International Cycling Union notified it Wednesday of the deduction and he could be stripped of his title and fired from the team if he does not clear his name.

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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