Reiterates that four year bans are to be introduced
UCI President Pat McQuaid has implied that the crucial decision about Alberto Contador’s future might be coming sooner rather than later, bringing to an end a delay of over two months since the rider was informed that he had failed a test during the Tour de France.
Contador won his third Tour this July, but risks losing his title after traces of Clenbuterol was found in his system. B tests confirmed that the banned substance was present and while the Spaniard has claimed that it was accidentally ingested in tainted beef, the WADA Code and previous cases both suggest that the most he can hope for is a reduction in a standard two year suspension.
Contador reportedly also had traces of plasticizers in his system; if so, the source of this chemical will have to be investigated in order to rule out a blood transfusion.
McQuaid said that he didn’t know if the latter was being investigated. When asked how long it would take for a decision to be announced, he told AP “I think that point might be fast approaching.
“We’re working with WADA. Our scientific people and their scientific people are working together to try to determine how the Clenbuterol got in the system.
“We’re waiting for WADA to come back to us with a report. As soon as we get that, we’ll take decisions within hours.”
Under the WADA Code, an athlete is responsible for what is in his or her system. The onus is on them to ensure that everything consumed is clear of banned substances. While this is very difficult to ensure for food products, his argument that the Clenbuterol came from beef is complicated by the fact that in tests carried out in Europe between 2008 and 2009, only one out of 83,203 animal samples was positive for the substance. During the same period, Spain tested 19,431 samples and no traces were found. Clenbuterol was banned by the European Union since 1996.
Outside of Europe, its use is greater and there is a recent history of sportspeople successfully appealing the length of the standard two year ban. Less than a month ago, the Italian rider Alessandro Colo (ISD-Neri) was handed a reduced, one-year suspension after testing positive for Clenbuterol in the Vuelta Mexico. The Italian anti-doping agency CONI accepted that the positive test occurred because a high percentage of cows are given the growth promoter in the Latin American country.
In mid October, Olympic silver medallist table tennis player Dimitrij Ovtcharov was cleared of all charges by the German federation. He successfully claimed that he ate the meat while in China, although the fact that he was given no suspension at all could be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
For his part, Contador said he will do everything he can to try to clear his name. “If they want to test every sample I’ve given in the Tour, [in] as many different laboratories as they want, or if they want to freeze it for three or five years until other future tests are scientifically validated and then check it, they can do it. I have nothing to hide,” he told Reuters last month.
Four year bans increasingly likely:
Reiterating a statement made to VeloNation two weeks ago, McQuaid told AP that he wanted the UCI and national federations to bring in four year bans for serious doping offences. The UCI President had said the same two years ago but this did not become widespread practice. This time round, the doubling of the standard ban appears more likely to take place.
“I want this brought in,” McQuaid told VeloNation a fortnight ago. “I have asked the anti-doping department that when they review positive doping cases and prepare the dossier to go to the national federation for following up on, that the UCI will recommend to the national federation that a four year ban be given.”
He elaborated on that to AP. “I’m increasingly going for four years because two years is very quick,” he said. “An athlete returns to the peleton very quick. I think it’s unfair to the clean athletes that guys who have cheated in premeditated cheating can come back so quickly.”