Danish Cycling Federation reacts to Contador's positive test
The Danish Cycling Federation, DCU, has expressed doubts surrounding the future of team Saxo Bank following Alberto Contador's positive doping test.
Contador was set to join team manager Bjarne Riis at Saxo Bank for the 2011 season, but on Thursday, the International Cycling Union, UCI, announced that the world number one had tested positive for Clenbuterol during the second rest day at this year's Tour
de France.
Peder Pedersen, president of the DCU, said that it is "...an unfortunate situation for all parties. A very sad situation for cycling in general and especially for Bjarne Riis and Saxo Bank."
Jesper Worre, a former cyclist and current director of the DCU known for his relentless stance against doping, said that his organisation had no direct links to the issue.
"It's so far not an issue for Danish cycling, and the case must take its course." Worre added that absence of Contador, who won this year's Tour to claim his third overall victory in the competition, could pave the way for some younger Danish Saxo Bank riders.
"[W]hat interests us from a Danish point of view is that the team will continue and that it can provide some of the Danish riders more prominent roles."
Morre also said that Contador, who currently races for team Astana, a Kazakh outfit that was not invited to the 2008 Tour de France due to its involvement in the Operation Mountain Pass doping case, will have to face whatever sentence he may be handed after
further tests to the blood sample.
"If he has taken [Clenbuterol], then he must have his sentence - no matter who he is. And as we always say in these cases, it's good to see that the system works and that there is no difference between high and low."
The UCI announced that it had handed Contador a provisional ban on Thursday, in accordance with the World Anti-Doping Code.
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