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Elliot Hubbard says disgraced cyclist Floyd Landis never seemed like that the type of athlete who would use drugs.

Hubbard met Landis when they were both competing professionally in the U.S. - Hubbard for Navigators and Landis for Mercury.

Last week Landis was banned from cycling for two years for testing positive for unusually high levels of testosterone after winning the Tour de France.

Hubbard, who will be taking his bar exam in October, said Landis was definitely an up-and-comer on the U.S. tour.

"He was a really good rider then and getting stronger every year. I had my eye on him because he was young at the time. He had moved over from mountain biking and I always thought he was going to be good.

"He was always nice, level-headed, down-to-earth, approachable guy. Initially, I was really happy for him, but then the scandal hit the news and it's been a bit of a disappointment ever since.

Hubbard added: "His character never struck me as the kind of guy who would take that route. But then a lot of guys who have tested positive have been nice guys."

He said when he was racing for Europe-based Aki-Safi in Italy in 1997, cycling suffered a huge doping scandal.

"A lot of big named riders…got implicated and busted. At that time the big drug was EPO. That was being very, very heavily abused at the time because there was very little regulation. Following that scandal at the Tour (de France) in '97, they started to crack down on drugs in general."

He added that with one major rider not being allowed to start the Tour and Landis testing positive on Stage 17 "it looks like they haven't slayed the beast. Who knows how prevalent it's been since Lance's (Armstrong) seven wins, but one can only wonder."

Hubbard said people can only speculate on whether or not Landis "knowingly took something or he was given something that he didn't realise what it was."

He said it's always possible the doctor could have given Landis an injection full of testosterone, but "Phonak's (Landis' team) has fired him and they haven't fired the doctor. He's protesting his innocence, but they all do."

Hubbard said Landis' explanation that he has normally high testosterone levels doesn't jive because traces of synthetic testosterone have shown up in the test samples.

"It just leaves us to believe there's no way he could have produced that much on his own."

He added: "It's just not good for the sport."

Hubbard said the last thing cycling needs is a doping scandal but praised the sport as one of the few athletic bodies to go after drug cheats.

A lot of sports tend to turn the other cheek and don't bust people."[[In-content Ad]]

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