Floyd Landis has one more chance to regain his 2006 Tour de France title. Like almost every other campaign he has waged in this long struggle, he'll be starting from behind.

The American cyclist decided Wednesday to try to regain his championship at the Court of Arbitration for Sport — the top court for sports — hoping arbitrators there will reverse an earlier decision to ban him for two years and strip him of his title for using performance-enhancing drugs.

"I hope that the arbitrators of the case will fairly address the facts showing that the French laboratory made mistakes, which resulted in a false positive," Landis said. "Although the process of proving my innocence has been difficult for me and my family, I will not stop trying to prove my innocence."

The CAS confirmed Thursday that it had received Landis' appeal.

"The American rider requests the CAS to annul the AAA decision," the court said in a brief statement.

Landis will, once again, be an underdog in this case, just as he was when he went into the first arbitration hearing, and when he began his sensational comeback during Stage 17 of last year's race. The appeal surely will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, though probably not millions, because much of the evidence already has been established and heard.

By The Associated Press