New York ? Embattled Tour de France champion Floyd Landis said Monday the way his doping case had been handled so far made him doubtful that he ever would be able to clear his name.

“By what I’ve seen so far, I don’t expect to get a fair chance,” he said in a telephone interview from California. “But I’m hoping that will change.”

Landis said the release of test results to the media before he had an adequate chance to examine them made it difficult to defend himself. He offered no new explanation for the elevated testosterone levels, or synthetic testosterone, found in his system after a stirring comeback ride to victory in Stage 17.

Speaking about officials from both the international cycling federation and the anti-doping agencies, Landis added, “There are multiple reasons why this could have happened, other than what they’re saying happened. They’re saying that I added testosterone to my body in some way.

“I’m saying there are possibly hundreds of reasons why this test could be this way … and it appears as though there is more of an agenda here than just enforcing the rules – if you look at the big picture.”

Landis used the same word, “agenda,” in a round of interviews a day earlier. But when asked who might be manipulating the results or the timing of the releases, Landis replied, “I don’t have a theory on that. All I’m saying is that circumstantial evidence points to something other than just clearly enforcing the rules.”

Landis said the media knew the result of each of his urine samples before he did, including the original July 27 revelation of the “A” sample positive. On Saturday, cycling’s world governing body announced that the backup “B” sample also was positive.

“I don’t know exactly what the truth is,” Landis said on NBC’s “Today” show.

“The problem here, though, from the beginning was the fact that the people doing the testing didn’t follow their own rules and their own protocols and made this public before I had a chance to figure out what was going on, and I was forced in the press to make comments before I could get educated on this.”

The 30-year-old rider said his biggest mistake was reacting to media reports when the news broke, saying it gave an impression he was coming up with new explanations and excuses each day.