Tour de France winner Alberto Contador has threatened to quit cycling, even if he is cleared of doping charges by cycling’s world governing body.
"I am so disillusioned that I am thinking about giving up cycling, irrespective of what the UCI decides," Contador said, according to El Mundo.
The 27 year old Spaniard should learn this week what the UCI intends to do about his positive doping test for Clenbuterol. He claims that the governing body accepted that a tainted piece of meat was responsible for the trace amounts of the banned substance in his body.
However, even if the UCI officially agrees that this is the case, current WADA rules will almost certainly require the Spaniard to be sanctioned. Last week, Italian rider Alessandro Colo was handed a reduced, one-year ban after testing positive for Clenbuterol on the last stage of the Vuelta Mexico, on April 25th.
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. Regardless, the rider was still handed a lengthy suspension.
Contador’s efforts to go unpunished could be hampered by the fact that Clenbuterol was banned by the European Union in 1996. According to AP, it tested 83,203 animal samples in Europe between 2008 and 2009; just one of those was positive. During the same period, Spain tested 19,431 samples in those years and no traces of the drug were found.
Fernando Ramos, a food contamination specialist at Portugal's Coimbra University, is sceptical. “It's not impossible but improbable,” he says. “In my opinion, it's just a story.”
News of Contador’s positive broke on September 29th. UCI president Pat McQuaid was quoted by AS on October 2nd as saying that a decision would be due in ‘eight to ten days’. The longer timeframe means that the ruling is due today, although there have been claims that it may be delayed by allegations which surfaced last week in the Belgian magazine Humo.
McQuaid has played down the case, suggesting the UCI is aiming for a favourable outcome, while WADA has taken a harder tone. Its Director General David Howman has said that it reserves the right to take things further if it is not satisfied with the decision.
“We will carefully observe the process, analyse the findings of the disciplinary committee,” he told ZDF. “If something is done wrong, we will intervene.”
Contador’s case has been complicated by reports that a type of plasticizer was found in his samples. According to anti-doping experts, this substance is used in blood bags to keep them pliable and could therefore be indicative of a blood transfusion. Contador has denied this and threatened legal action against unspecified media. He insists that he has never taken banned substances and has volunteered to release past samples for rechecking.
If the ruling is indeed delayed, it is likely a decision will be reached prior to next Tuesday, October 19th. The 2011 Tour de France route presentation will be held in Paris and organisers ASO will be keen to know how things stand prior to that launch. The Tour champion is customarily given pride of place at the function.