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The statement came a day after the UCI, cycling's governing body, said an unidentified rider had failed a drug test during the Tour.
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The Swiss-based Phonak said in a statement on it Web site that it was notified by the UCI Wednesday that Landis' sample showed "an unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone" when he was tested after stage 17 of the race last Thursday.
It was on that mountain stage where Landis staged a stunning solo breakaway to overcome a huge deficit and put himself in position to win the Tour.
"The team management and the rider were both totally surprised of this physiological result," the statement said.
Phonak said Landis would ask for analysis of his backup "B" sample "to prove either that this result is coming from a natural process or that this is resulting from a mistake."
Landis has been suspended by the team pending the results. If the second sample confirms the initial finding, he will be fired from the team, Phonak said.
Landis won the Tour de France on Sunday, keeping the title in U.S. hands for the eighth straight year. Lance Armstrong, long dogged by doping whispers and reports that he has vehemently denied, won the previous seven.
Landis went into the 17th stage in 11th place, trailing Spain's Oscar Pereiro by more than eight minutes after cracking badly in the previous day's stage. But he went on the offensive on one of the hardest Alpine stages, breaking free of the pack and racing to a spectacular solo victory in Morzine.
That performance vaulted Landis into third place overall, within 30 seconds of the lead. He claimed the leader's jersey in the time trial on Saturday and cruised to victory the next day with a 57-second advantage on the Champs-Elysees.
Pereiro finished second and Germany's Andreas Kloden third.
Speculation that Landis may have tested positive spread earlier Thursday after he failed to show up for a one-day race in Denmark on Thursday. A day earlier, he missed a scheduled event in the Netherlands.
On the eve of the Tour's start, nine riders — including pre-race favorites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso — were ousted, implicated in a Spanish doping investigation.
The names of Ullrich and Basso turned up on a list of 56 cyclists who allegedly had contact with Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, who's at the center of the Spanish doping probe.
