Floyd Landis has indicated he will carry on the fight to clear his name after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld his two-year drugs ban.

Landis was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title - which passed to Spaniard Oscar Pereiro - and handed a two-year ban from the sport after testing positive for elevated levels of testosterone.

CAS' verdict sees the 32-year-old disqualified from the 2006 race and banned from cycling for two years from January 30, 2007. He has also been ordered to pay £50,000 to the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

Landis said in a statement: "I am saddened by today's decision.

"I am looking into my legal options and deciding on the best way to proceed."

USADA expressed their satisfaction at the verdict.

USADA chief executive Travis Tygart said: "We are pleased that justice was served and that Mr Landis was not able to escape the consequences of his doping or his effort to attack those who protect the rights of clean athletes."

Landis has always maintained his innocence and appealed the decision against him at every stage.

Monday's ruling was Landis' last hope of clearing his name and his failure to do so means he is the first rider in the 105-year history of the Tour to be stripped of a title for doping.

His first appeal failed last September when the USADA upheld the original ruling after agreeing his sample from Stage 17 of the Tour was positive for exogenous testosterone.

Within three weeks of that ruling, Landis announced he would appeal to CAS, saying: "I hope that the CAS panel will review my case on the basis of the facts and the science, and to approach my appeal from the principle that the anti-doping authorities must uphold the highest levels of appropriate process, technical skill, science and professional standards to pronounce judgment on matters that hold an athlete's career, accomplishments and livelihood in the balance."

That appeal was heard behind closed doors in New York in March this year, with CAS hearing 35 hours of evidence.

Such was the volume of evidence, CAS immediately warned that it would require several months to reach a verdict.

The two-year ban imposed on Landis applied from January 2007, meaning he faces another seven months out of the sport in the wake of today's verdict.

CAS' verdict comes just five days before the start of the 2008 Tour de France.

Landis is not the only rider awaiting important court rulings this week.

Denmark's Michael Rasmussen, who was sacked by Rabobank while leading last year's Tour because he had lied about his whereabouts during doping tests, will learn the results of two cases.

On Tuesday, the Monaco Cycling Federation is expected to announce if Rasmussen faces further punishment - potentially a two-year ban - for lying about his whereabouts, while a day later a court in Holland should rule on his claim of unfair dismissal by Rabobank.

CAS are also considering an appeal from Spanish rider Iban Mayo, who tested positive during last year's Tour.

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