Floyd Landis hires Greg Lemond's lawyers

Agence France-Presse reported Tuesday that former cyclist and Tour de France winner Floyd Landis has hired a law firm that has represented another former Tour de France winner, Greg Lemond. 

In the last month, mostly via a series of e-mails made public in various media publications as well as in a single interview with ESPN.com, Landis has accused seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong and fellow U.S. cyclists Levi Leipheimer, George Hincapie and Dave Zabriskie of engaging in banned doping practices while all were members of the U.S. Postal Service team.

According to the news service, Landis has received a "strongly worded" letter from Hein Verbruggen, the former president of the international cycling federation, UCI. Verbruggen was accused by Landis of colluding to suppress a positive drug test for Armstrong.

And Pat McQuaid, the current UCI president, confirmed in a phone call Tuesday that a letter has been sent from the UCI general counsel to Landis.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Floyd Landis. Credit: Doug Pensinger, Getty Images.