By Brian Canty
After 566 days since his positive test for the banned substance clenbuterol, Alberto Contador was today ruled guilty of a doping offence by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
It ruled that his positive test during the 2010 Tour almost certainly originated from a contaminated food supplement he ingested.
So cycling is winning the war on doping and any measure to eradicate a cancer that has blighted the sport since his inception should be welcomed regardless?
So we should all rejoice that another rider is snared and the sport can rise up against the oppression that has forever dogged it?
So we should all hail the CAS who over-ruled the Spanish cycling federation (who farcically over-ruled themselves in 2011), UCI and the World Anti-Doping Agency?
So cycling will be in a better place tomorrow than it was today?
This decision is, to me, on the face of it, completely non-sensical and I am, personally, shocked and outraged by the decision to ban Alberto Contador.
To me, it seems like each federation who pride themselves on their willingness to rid cycling of malevolence in all its forms, are not doing the very thing they purport to do.
Consider it for a second, it’s not rocket science.
-Contador learns of his positive test
-UCI decide to suspend him from competition.
-UCI then ask the Spanish Cycling Federation an investigation into the case.
- Spanish Cycling Federation find him guilty.
- Spanish Cycling Federation later find him innocent of wrongdoing after he appeals their original decision.
-The UCI then bring the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
-The World Anti-Doping Agemcy (WADA) then conduct their own investigation into the affair.
-CAS delay a decision, then postpone a decision, then postpone another hearing before eventually deciding that Contador is guilty.
So, unbelievably, Andy Schleck is elevated to the Tour de France winners list, Michele Scarponi usurps Contador as the 2011 Giro d’Italia winner and from an Irish perspective, 25-year-old Dan Martin’s gets promoted to second place finish at the Tour of Catalunya last year.
So suddenly we a have good news story?
Not a chance. For that is to miss the point, because there are no winners here, only losers, right down to the CAS, who have delayed, procrastinated, offset and postponed meetings and court hearings with little warning and even less of an explanation for almost two years.
To me, it’s like the case of the college lecturer who tells his students in week one they must have a report in at the end of semester, only for the students to unearth the homework the night before and realise they grossly mismanaged the thing...
What could be more important in protecting the biggest name in the sport? Or bringing him down? But for heaven’s sake, don’t do neither.
It is another giant step backwards for the much-maligned sport and even UCI President Pat McQuaid groaned at the ruling, saying that the outcome has done nothing for the sport’s reputation.
“This is a sad day for our sport,” said the Irishman in a statement released by the UCI.
“Some may think of it as a victory, but that is not at all the case. There are no winners when it comes to the issue of doping: every case, irrespective of its characteristics, is always a case too many.”
I sensed something was wrong last month when Contador was back on the bike, logging the miles in Israel of all places, ahead of what he hoped would be a more stress-free season than the one he had last year.
What struck me, and many others, as odd, was that his team — SaxoBank, were in the middle of their second winter training block, in a country that is not a hotbed for racing. Not an ideal training base either — never used by any of the big ProTour teams.
However, when you scratch beneath the veneer and find out that on the CAS judging panel, that decide Contador’s fate very shortly, is an Israeli, Ephraim Barak.
He’s actually President of the CAS.
Little wonder then, that RadioShack-Nissan team boss Flavio Becca launched a tirade at the SaxoBank team and its owner Bjarne Riis, himself one of the most notorious serial dopers of his generation.
“When I saw that in the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) commission, an Israeli judge will decide the fate of Contador and soon after discovered that Saxo Bank has its own training camp in Israel, I do not think we are on track," said Becca.
"An Israeli judge will issue a ruling on Contador, and Saxo Bank is doing its training camp in Israel, even being officially received by the Government. There are two facts that can not be separated. At this point, I think everything is already decided," said Becca.
SaxoBank also signed the first ever Israeli to the Pro peloton with Ran Margaliot to join Contador et al. for 2012.
While there, team's riders did the usual early team camp activities: getting to know each other, help building a cycling school and spending some time riding locally.
I believe Contador is clean and has been harshly dealt with, but to be in Israel was a very strange one and raised eyebrows throughout the sport. Israel was the last place they should have been.
Are they naive enough to think there wouldn't be murmurs arousing out of suspicion?
It all made for a tense month which reached a climax today with the ruling, one that has left an indelible mark on cycling.
Contador was seen as a pin-up, a saviour, one of cycling’s good guys.
He wasn’t brash, he was always mannerly in interviews, took his beatings whenever they arrived and rarely complained when things didn’t go his way, which admittedly, was rare.
I am stunned by the ruling because unlike the Armstrong case, where several witnesses willingly testified against him, saying they saw him take EPO and other performance enhancing drugs.
The difference here, is a) the intent, or lack of it by Contador, and b) the lack of witnesses that have come out against Contador.
I’ve had to search pretty long and hard all day today and I can scarcely find one negative reaction towards Contador personally.
Even Andy Schleck, who could be forgiven for wanting to unleash some anger at Contador said he was sorry for the man who took advantage of his misfortune of slipping his chain off at the 2010 Tour.
“First of all I feel sad for Alberto. I always believed in his innocence,” said the lanky Luxembourger.
Whether Contador appeals the decision by CAS, (how many appeals is a guy entitled to, you might ask at this stage?) is immaterial. The damage is done.
Just when cycling was starting to emerge from the shadows of appalling doping scandals, it goes and does something like this, to itself.
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/kp1-7tq20xY/post.aspx
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