UKC

The appeal is going in...........

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/9434749.stm

In reply to Removed User:

Well it sounds like the appeal process will be on going until at least June, and if that's the case, it's hard to see how he could ride in the Tour de France this year. Fingers crossed the CAS will give him that ban he always should have had.

Tim

In reply to Removed User:

Hope so but will be surprised it if it does.

I cant see how you can have a strong and fierce defense when it all comes down to "the steak did it"

Unless it goes something like this "it was in the steak i eat, it was, it was, it was"

In reply to Green Porridge: Don't think he is riding the TdF this year i.e not welcome. Giro and Vuelta.

It would be a farce IMHO if he gets off.

In reply to Removed User:

Ah-hem! I think you will find he is CHOOSING not to, because he would like to concentrate on the Giro and Vuelta

Tim

In reply to Removed User:

Good job too, just hope CAS don't have the same level of pressure applied as the Spanish Cycling Body.
How the hell you can blame the steak without supporting evidence is unreal, no other group of athletes could get away with that so much, look at that Scottish skier who had is bronze medal taken away because he picked up the wrong vicks inhaler as the US version had a banned substance in it.
Clearly he had a reason for failing, this arse hasn't

In reply to Removed User:
I've said this before, but I'll say it again

The amount detected is so ludicrously low that it would not affect either performance or health. Now I'm well aware than any amount of the substance is illegal, and that the most likely explanation is blood doping, but the evidence for that is circumstantial. Clenbutorol has been used in animal foodstuffs, but of course the farmers will deny it and the evidence has already been eaten !

So the question you have to ask is this - if Conto is innocent, and the food was contaminated, what could he and his team have done ? Do they have to send all their food off to testing labs before they eat it ?

I have loads of sympathy for Alain Baxter (the scottish skiier), particularly as he could prove that there was no performance enhancers in his medicine, but nonetheless he made a rookie mistake - buying his own medicine in a foreign country.

This case has more in common with Greg Rusedski - tested positive for Nandrolone and missed 6 months before being able to prove that the contamination came from ATP approved drinks.

I'm all for rigourous drug-testing in cycling, but it has to be fair and credible, with at least some presumption of innocence

In reply to Chris the Tall:

Chris, people keep banging on about it being a small amount. The serious doping scientists at WADA and other drugs labs all feel this is a clear indication of doping. The stuff is used in tiny amounts anyway (due to the side effects) and out of competition, the most likely way it got in his blood is through a transfusion of his own blood that still had traces of cleb in.

Although not the one I mention see:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/experts-poke-holes-in-contadors-contaminate...

The other one has a scientist at the WADA drugs lab saying how this is a very clear indication of doping and that she's dissapointed at how the usual legal and media murk is clouding what should be a very clear case.

Cheers

Toby

In reply to Chris the Tall: As Toby has just said, I think your misunderstanding the nature of the result.

As well as clenbutirol there were traces of "plasticizers", this is an indication of Contador having receuived a transfusion. The race doctor is the only person who can give/authorize a transfusion during an event.This did not happen.

The most plausible reason I have seen reported on several sites etc. is he had taken clen following the Dauphine'. As it is metabolised? within a couple of days they could have assumed it was clear within a short time and removed/banked blood. The banked blood was then transfused on the second rest day. Unfortunately for Contador the sample was sent to a lab who's testing was more sensitive than most others, plus they tested for plasticizers as well although that in itself isn't a doping offence.

If it was the "special" spanish beef, wrapped in "special" spanish clingfilm do you nnot think the culprit would have been in the media spotlight within days of the original annoucement? The Spanish federation overturned their original ban due to a technicality in the notification process, not because of the test result. WTF is that all about!!!?

Therefore, the amount found in his sample was not performance enhancing in it's own right at the time of the test. However, if it had previously been taken as a deliberate act of doping it would of had beneficial effects. Transfusing blood is a doping offence in itself and he was caught out by the traces of clen in the banked blood, along with the traces of plasticizers from the IV process.