Tour de France winner accused of hacking French laboratory

A French judge has issued an arrest warrant for a cyclist accused of hacking into computer systems at an anti-doping lab.

According to a New York Times report, authorities believe that Floyd Landis, a former Tour de France winner, used a tTrojan program to install data-stealing malware on a system at the Châtenay-Malabry drug-testing lab.

The accusations are in connection with Landis' 2006 Tour de France anti-doping case. As part of his defence in the case, the cyclist presented computer data which claimed that the handling of samples was flawed and that the laboratory erred in reporting that the cyclist had used performance-enhancing drugs.

Authorities now believe that the data was gathered through the use of a malware program which was traced back to the system of one of the cyclist's coaches. They allege that the stolen information was then altered and presented in the defence.

A spokesperson for France's anti-doping agency told reporters that Landis' team used a "network of hackers" and made multiple attempts to infiltrate systems.

Landis has reportedly denied the accusations.