Cycling Body Challenges Ruling That Cleared Champion Contador of Doping
Cycling’s ruling body is challenging a decision to clear Tour de France champion Alberto Contador of doping at last year’s race.
The Union Cycliste Internationale said in a statement today it will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland after “an in-depth study” of the judgment by the Spanish cycling federation.
Contador blames eating contaminated beef for testing positive for the stimulant clenbuterol.
Tests last year found he had 50 picograms per milliliter of clenbuterol in his body on the last rest day of the 2010 Tour. A picogram is one trillionth of a gram.
Clenbuterol is used to treat respiratory disorders such as asthma and can increase aerobic capacity by improving the flow of oxygen in the bloodstream. Farmers sometimes use it illegally to bulk up cattle more quickly.
“Maybe we have to go got the court to make my innocence even clearer,” Contador said after a stage of the Volta a Catalunya race today, according to Spanish news wire Efe. “I’d rather it hadn’t come to this but I’ve got full confidence in the arguments my lawyers have presented.”
Contador recently hired Belgian lawyer Jean-Louis Dupont to strengthen his legal team in preparation for an appeal. Dupont represented Jean-Marc Bosman in a landmark ruling on European Union soccer transfers in 1995.
Bjarne Riis, owner of the Saxo Bank-Sungard team Contador rides for, said it still backs Contador.
“As long as this is a case of accidental intake of a forbidden substance, we will continue to support Alberto Contador,” Riis said in a statement. “In our opinion it would be unfair to do anything else.”
Contador, who returned to racing a day after he was cleared on Feb. 15, today kept the lead after stage four of the week- long Volta a Catalunya that ends March 27.
He first won the Tour de France in 2007 and took the next- biggest three-week stages races, the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana, in 2008 when his team at the time, Astana, was banned from the French race.
He overcame competition from his then-Astana teammate and record seven-time champion Lance Armstrong for his second Tour de France victory in 2009.
To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Duff in Madrid at aduff4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Elser at celser@bloomberg.net
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