Floyd Landis insisted Sunday he was drug-free when he won the Tour de France, and said that a French laboratory "made some mistakes" when its results showed he had elevated levels of testosterone.

The American's positive doping test came less than a week after he won cycling's biggest race on July 23.

Although the Châtenay-Malabry lab is accredited by the International Olympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency, Landis believes it got his test results wrong.

"Even the best people make mistakes," Landis said in an interview for French television. "I can't say that the lab is always a bad lab, but I can say that in this case it made some mistakes ... I did not take testosterone."

Landis was fired by his Phonak team within an hour of the positive test, and in the following days said a number of factors could have triggered the findings, including thyroid medication, cortisone injections for a damaged hip, dehydration, his tendency to produce too much testosterone, or some whiskey and beer he drank to celebrate winning the 17th stage the day after crumbling in the Alps.

"I have to rely on my lawyers and the scientists, because I am bicycle racer," Landis said. "That's all I know. I have to wait until the scientists can prove it. I hope that everybody will try to keep an open mind."

Landis offered little clarification why his tests showed a testosterone-epitestosterone ratio of 11:1 — well above the accepted limit of 4:1.

"I was not trying to make a connection between alcohol or with the drugs test," he told the Stade 2 sports program. "I was trying to tell a story in detail of what happened the day before, and hoping somebody maybe had an explanation."

Testosterone, a male sex hormone, helps build muscle and improve stamina. The urine tests were done July 20 after the 17th stage victory during a grueling Alpine leg, when he regained nearly eight minutes against then-leader Oscar Pereiro.

He said his poor showing on the 16th stage was due to malnutrition.

"I did not eat enough food during the stage and at the end I bonked," he said.

His recovery the following day, when he reeled in Pereiro, was hailed as the best single-stage ride of modern times, and one of the best ever in the 103-year Tour history.

Landis said that taking back the yellow jersey the day after losing huge time was not unusual.

"It seemed more difficult to believe because the day before was a very bad day for me," Landis said. "But it is not uncommon when you have a bad day that the best day is the next day."

Landis said he is now training two hours a day, six weeks after a hip operation. He rode the Tour with a badly damaged hip, and was cleared to take medication for it.

"I had injections in my hip for a condition which caused the hip replacement to be necessary," he said. "This was known by the UCI, and known by the lab, and all the procedures were followed properly ... the treatment for the hip was a corticosteroid."

Trying clear his name has been tough on his friends and family, Landis said. He has called on seven-time Tour champion Lance Armstrong for help.

"He's also been accused of things in the past and he's one of the few people who can relate to the situation," Landis said. "His advice is just try and be clear in what you say and don't expect people to give you too much of the benefit of the doubt."

Armstrong has previously been critical of the Châtenay-Malabry lab, which helped perfect testing for the performance enhancer EPO.

On Oct. 26, Landis was not invited by Tour organizers when they presented the 2007 route. Traditionally, the reigning Tour champion is asked to come, but race director Christian Prudhomme no longer considers Landis the champion.

"We got hit over the back of the head by what happened," Prudhomme said at the presentation.

At the end of its video presentation, the Amaury Sports Organization — which owns the race — showed Landis' image followed by a cracked mirror.

"I'm disappointed that the Tour had to have this happen," Landis said. "Cycling deserves a better reputation than this ... I didn't do anything to cause the problems we have now. I raced the Tour clean."