American Floyd Landis is pinning hopes of retaining his Tour de France title on what he and his supporters claim are sloppy practices at the French national doping laboratory at Châtenay-Malabry when he makes an appearance in front of a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency panel on May 14.

Landis’s attorneys will also be hoping to that sloppy testing by a French lab and not doping was the reason behind his failed test on his way to victory in last year's Tour de France, when they make an appearance before France’s anti-doping agency (AFLD) on Thursday.

In a conference call here Wednesday, Brian Rafferty, chairman of the Floyd Fairness Fund Advisory Board, said that they were confident of proving that the case against Landis was not scientifically reliable and were hoping that the AFLD would postpone Thursday's hearing until after the USADA hearing.

"Our hope is that they (AFLD) will stay proceedings," said Rafferty.

Arnie Baker, a retired doctor and longtime coach and adviser to Landis, said he and other experts retained by Landis have picked holes in the case against the rider.

"The results are not reliable. The whole document is riddled with errors," said Baker. "The sample was clearly contaminated and mislabeled. I'm not sure whose urine I'm looking at here.

"This whole thing is so full of errors I don't know what to think except I can't call it a positive test,” Baker added. "I don't think the USADA should be looking at sanctions. I think WADA should be looking to improve practices."

Rafferty said that the biggest problem they were having was getting information on Landis' test and the results of the eight samples he gave during the Tour de France.

"We want the information but they won't give it to us, probably because it has as much holes as Swiss cheese," said Rafferty.

USADA officials have declined to comment on similar assertions in the past.

“Unfortunately, as a case gets played out in the media, people will only ever see one side of that story,” USADA general counsel Travis Tygart said in November. “Our rules don’t allow us to comment. We’re not going to comment, as long as those are the rules.”

Rafferty said that 150,000 dollars had been collected by their group of volunteers since January to help Landis fight his case, with the rider having already paid out over 400,000 dollars in legal fees.

If the doping positive is upheld, Landis, 30, faces a two-year ban from competition and the loss of his Tour de France title. He could be banned from racing in France should he lose before the AFLD.

Should arbitrators find in Landis's favor but the AFLD rule against him, a complex set of legal questions could be presented before the sporting world’s highest authority, the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The French case was only able to be filed because at the time of the alleged violation occurred immediately prior to France’s ratification of the UNESCO treaty on doping in sport, which would have barred such localized proceedings in deference to procedures carried out under the auspices of WADA.

Given that France has since ratified the provisions of the treaty, it may be left to CAS to sort out which authority has final jurisdiction in the case.

In the event of a sanction, Landis would become the first winner of the world's most famous bike race to lose the yellow jersey for a doping offense. The top three finishers of the 1904 Tour – the second edition of the French race – were all disqualified for cheating and course-cutting.VeloNews.com editor Charles Pelkey contributed to this report