TOUR de France winner Floyd Landis could ride on Kent's roads in September.

Landis won the world's biggest bike race on Sunday, despite an arthritic hip that will force him to undergo a hip replacement operation.

It is understood that the American will ride in the Tour of Britain, provided this surgery is scheduled for after September 3, when the race finishes in London.

A spokesman for Landis' Phonak team told the Guardian: "If the doctors set a date before the beginning of September he will not ride in Britain, but if the date is later he is highly likely to start the British Tour."

Landis' goal is to familiarise himself with the roads used by the 2007 Tour de France, which starts in London and passes through Kent.

Stage five of this year's Tour of Britain on Saturday, September 2 covers 155km between Rochester and Canterbury and follows a similar route to stage one of next year's Tour de France, between London and Canterbury.