Contador pleased with UCI probe into doping case
Alberto Contador, the winner of Tour de France race, has admitted that he was totally contended with the probe into his doping case which is being carried out by Spain’s cycling federation. During this year’s Tour event, Contador had been found positive
for clenbuterol, the banned drug, which, the renowned cyclist and 3-time champion claims came from contaminated meat.
For reportedly using the drug intentionally, Contador had been provisionally suspended by UCI, the world body for cycling, but on Monday it asked the RFEC, the Spanish cycling federation, to handle the case. The 27-year-old cyclist has welcomed the move
by saying “it means we can move forward.”
A statement released by Jacinto Vidarte, the spokesman of Contador, stated: “The legal team of Alberto Cotador, after receiving and carefully studying the report submitted by the International Cycling Union to the Spanish cycling federation, maintains their
optimism and confidence in bringing a resolution to the case. The dossier prepared by the UCI and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) focuses on the hypothesis of food contamination.”
Therefore, as per the documents submitted by Wada and the UCI, food contamination remains perhaps the most probable reason and a logical explanation from scientific point of view to justify the presence of the reported little amount of Clenbuterol in body
of the Spanish cyclist while he was there to participate into the Tour de France race.
The statement released by Vidarte further disclosed that Contador’s legal team was already working with the hope of a verdict in the shortest possible time; this would probably allow the cyclist to begin his next cycling season without facing any major obstacle.
Vidarte also disclosed that the defending legal team of Contador was to be led by Rocco Taminelli, the renowned Swiss lawyer who had successfully defended Franco Pellizotti the Italian cyclist, when he was found positive for drugs test in Italy, back in October.
It’s a general practice that the riders at the Tour de France race are tested by the UCI; however, for carrying out the detailed investigations and prosecutions, if required, the respective national authorities are handed over the responsibility.
According to the rules laid by the UCI, the investigation procedures by RFEC must be completed within a month, however, while talking to the media personnel, Juan Carlos Castano, the chief of the Spanish body said that his organization would at least take
two months to decide about the faith of the rider.
If it is proved that the drug was not taken inadvertently, Cantador, the yellow jersey winner in Paris in 2007 and then again in 2009 would be stripped of his 2010 Tour title and would most probably also face a ban for two years. So far, the only rider who
had been stripped of his title was Floyd Landis. The guy had to give away his title in 2006.
On the contrary, if the Spanish cycling federation takes some decision in favour of Contador and the UCI or WADA does not feel satisfied with the decision, they can take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
While the defending the case of Cantador, the lawyers would most probably emphasize upon the facts that meats are usually not labeled about the contaminations and chemicals which had been applied to them. Secondly, most of the drugs do not remain effective
after two days of their usage, while their presence in the body can be traced even after longer periods. If it is established that the contaminated meat was taken inadvertently, the rider definitely has a chance to escape the possible ban.
Clenbuterol is a fat burning and muscle building drug. When the test was taken, a WADA accredited laboratory in Cologne, Germany had found a very small concentration of Clenbuterol in Contador’s urine sample. A plus point for the cyclist was that the traced
amount of the drug was 400 times lesser than the 50 picogram benchmark measure of the WADA accredited anti-doping laboratories.
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