File this under “Boom!”
Alberto Contador has revealed he has failed an anti-doping test for the banned substance clenbuterol during this year’s Tour de France.
A message issued by Contador’s personal press officer said Contador had been a victim of food contamination and would give a press conference in his home town of Pinto, near Madrid at mid-day on Thursday.
“Alberto Contador is affected by a doping control at the last Tour de France on July 21, where it was found the substance clenbuterol,” the automatically translated message reads.
www.cyclingnews.com/news/alberto-contador-tests-positive-for-clenbuterol.
The Velonews twitter feed tells me there will be a press conference shortly. By Contador. Yeah. I’m not so much interested in what he has to say. You’ve no idea how the drug got in your body, it must have been tainted food, you are not a cheat, you are above reproach…
I am only interested in what the UCI will do. Remember, they stripped Landis of his title. It could well happen again.
Could this mean a yellow jersey for Andy Schleck?
Update: As mentioned in the comment section, the amount of clenbuterol in Contador’s urine sample has been reported to be 400 times below the actionable limit.
The UCI says a lab in Germany found clenbuterol in Contador’s urine sample on July 21 at the Tour de France. But the amount was only 50 picograms, which the UCI says “is 400 time(s) less than what the antidoping laboratories accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency’s must be able to detect.”
Game changer?
@Wendel: This is a great time to start redefining the rules — after numerous riders have been banned for a couple of years for the exact same infraction…
also, some theories are that the drug was introduced after his blood transfusion — but who am I to throw stones?
…the schleck kids are adding some class to the pelican next season…
…mercedes-benz luxembourg is their new vehicle sponsor…
…team cars, vans, trucks & pro-tour buses…
…back to our (your)(i’m not a fan) golden boy…
…it’s those oh-so-thorough germans sprechen-ing again…
…“There are other, very, very incriminating suspicious facts against Contador. Other values have appeared that are ten times over the higher value from so-called plasticizers [such as di-(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) – ed.] which are used in blood bags. These values were measured one day before the positive dope control. These blood bag softener values could indicate that autologous blood doping may have been performed.”…
…’berto sez “ummm…it musta been when i was eating my samiches on that last stage…ya, that’s it, i ‘member now…i ate part of the plastic bag…ya, ya, fer sure, that’s it…& they were tainted meat samiches as well, senor mcquaid…you understand, si ???”…