2010 Tour de France win hangs in the balance; has 10 days to appeal
Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-SunGard) has been handed a one-year ban by the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC), according to El Pais. The 28-year-old rider tested positive for a trace amount of banned substance clenbuterol on his way to victory in last year’s Tour de France when he was riding for the Astana team.
The RFEC decision has come a day earlier than expected as, according to a statement from president Juan Carlos Castaño, the competition committee was not due to meet until tomorrow.
Contador now has 10 days to appeal the decision before the final verdict is announced on February 9th.
According to El Pais, the federation had hoped to keep the decision quiet until Contador had either appealed or accepted the verdict, but it was leaked almost immediately. He is currently in Mallorca on a training camp with the Saxo Bank-SunGard team; team owner Bjarne Riis has called for a press conference on Friday, but his rider is not expected to be present.
The fact that Contador has been given one year, instead of the statutory two required for a first offence, could be an indication that the RFEC accepts the rider’s explanation that the tiny amount of the prohibited substance (50 picograms/millilitre) was due to a contaminated steak that he consumed on the Tour’s rest day.
50 picograms/millilitre is actually 40 times less than a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory is required to be able to detect. Had Contador’s samples been tested by most laboratories in the World the substance might well have gone undetected, but the laboratory in Cologne, Germany has newer and more precise testing equipment than many others. There is no legal threshold for clenbuterol however, which means that any detected amount is classed as a positive test.
Ultimately though, under the WADA principle of strict liability, Contador was responsible for any substance in his system. Even if the RFEC accepts his food contamination explanation it is bound by the WADA Code to hand him with a suspension.
Contador was first informed by the International Cycling Union (UCI) of his positive test on August 24th, according to a statement from his spokesman, although news of this did not leak out until late September. This was that date that he officially became inactive, even though his competitive season ended after the Tour, and so it is likely that this is that date from which his suspension will retrospectively commence. This would mean that he will not only be unable to contest this year’s Tour de France, but will also not be eligible to start the Vuelta a España, which starts on August 20th.
This would be the third time in his career that he has missed the Tour through controversy; in 2006 he was part of the Astana-Würth team that was withdrawn from the race following the breaking of Operación Puerto (although he was later cleared of any involvement); in 2008 he missed the race when the Astana team was refused an invitation to the race due to the failed test for blood-doping returned by Alexandre Vinokourov the year before.
As well as his suspension, if Contador does not lodge a successful appeal, he will also forfeit any results achieved after the positive test was returned, which means that the 2010 Tour de France will likely be handed to second place finisher Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek). As the test was returned on the second rest day however, he likely will keep his results up to that point, including his second place on stage 12 to Mende and his two days in the yellow jersey.
As well as Contador’s right to appeal, the UCI and WADA both have the option to take the case the Court for Arbitration in Sport (CAS) if they do not feel that the penalty is sufficient. Given the history of both organisations in cases where less than the mandatory sentence was handed down, this is extremely likely.
Should either party appeal the decision the process could drag on for some time. The last time a Tour de France winner was disqualified for doping was 2006, when Floyd Landis tested positive for synthetic testosterone. The resulting appeals and arbitration panels dragged on for more than a year; second placed Oscar Pereiro was eventually awarded the 2006 Tour in September 2007, almost two months after that year’s race had been completed (ironically, the race was won by Contador).
The only other time in history that the winner of the race has been disqualified was in 1904, in the race’s second ever edition, when 1903 winner Maurice Garin and the rest of the top four were stripped of their results for employing various methods of cheating, including taking trains.
UPDATE: According to statements issued by Contador’s press office and the Saxo Bank-SunGard team the rider will be present at the Mallorca press conference, alongside Bjarne Riis, on Friday. The team statement also confirms that the reason for the reduced ban is that RFEC accepted Contador’s explanation for accidental ingestion of clenbuterol.