Alberto Contador might face a fine of 2,485,000 Euros following a two-year ban from professional cycling
CAS has imposed a two-year ban on Alberto Contador related to his Tour de France 2010 doping allegations. The case was filed by UCI and WADA after the Spanish Cycling Federation freed the cyclist from all the charges back in February 2011.
Court of Arbitration for Sport mentioned in its statement that the cyclist is likely to face a fine of 2,485,000 Euros, which will be implemented later on.
The Spaniard won the 2010 edition of the French Grand Tour, which was his second consecutive victory at the race.
He was accused of using the performance enhancing drug, clenbuterol during the race to which he never agreed.
Contador claimed that the substance entered his blood through the contaminated beef that he ate during the race.
However, the cyclist could not convince the judges, "The Panel concluded that both the meat contamination scenario and the blood transfusion scenario were, in theory, possible explanations for the adverse analytical findings, but were however equally unlikely”.
“In the Panel’s opinion, on the basis of the evidence adduced, the presence of clenbuterol was more likely caused by the ingestion of a contaminated food supplement," the statement continued.
Alberto has now been stripped off from the overall victory at the Tour de France 2010, and also the 2011 Giro d’Italia.
The cyclist is also banned from professional cycling for a period of two years starting from January 25th 2011. He served a provisional suspension of 5 months and 19 days in 2010-11.
Contador is expected to make a comeback at professional cycling in August 2012.
The 29-year-old will miss most of the major events in the coming year, including the Tour de France, Giro d’ Italia and the London Olympics.
He started racing professionally in 2003 and holds as many as eight Grand Tour appearances under his belt.
UCI President, Pat McQuaid was upset after the news and referred to it as one of the saddest days in professional cycling.
Contador is considered as one of the best stage race cyclists in the world. The news of his ban from the sport came as a shock to a number of cycling fans throughout the globe.
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