Contador released by Saxo Bank after doping suspension

21 comments
By Cyclingnews.com | Tuesday, Feb 7, 2012 10.48pm

This article originally appeared on Cyclingnews.com

Contract between Contador and Saxo Bank over

Saxo Bank team manager Bjarne Riis has annulled the contract between his team and Alberto Contador following the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport to hand him a two-year ban and strip him of the 2010 Tour de France title.

"When Alberto is not able to ... ride for the team, the contract cannot continue. I think that's pretty obvious," Riis said at a press conference in Madrid. Later, he added that he would be happy to work with again Contador in the future.

Contador said in his statements that while the contract is over for now, he would give Saxo Bank the first chance to sign him when he returns to competition on August 5, but that he is now a free agent.

Riis said that while he and the team had hoped for a different outcome of the arbitration, he would not have changed how they'd acted in response.

"We have asked ourselves many times during this case, could we as a team have done things any differently? I really don't think we could have done things differently than what we have done trying to support every one of our riders," Riis said.

Contador had signed a contract with the Saxo Bank team prior to learning of his positive test result for clenbuterol in a sample taken on the second rest day of the 2010 Tour. He was provisionally suspended by the UCI until the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) decided not to punish him for the positive on February 15, 2011.

The CAS announced its decision yesterday, after hearing appeals from the UCI and WADA, to suspend Contador from the time of his notification in August 2011 for two years.

"We inherited this case, and we patiently waited for a decision," Riis said, adding a justification as to why Contador continued to compete despite having the spectre of the UCI and WADA appeals of the decision hanging over him. "All along, we followed the rules and because Alberto was cleared [by the RFEC in early 2011], he was able to ride."

Riis said that, as in the RFEC's decision to allow Contador to race, he and the team have to respect this new decision by the CAS, but vowed to continue to support Contador "one hundred per cent".

He referred to the written CAS decision, saying that the appearance of clenbuterol in Contador's system most likely was the result of a contaminated supplement and "was unlikely to have anything to do with conscious cheating".

Contador maintains innocence regarding doping violation

This article originally appeared on Cyclingnews.com

Alberto contador is accompanied by bjarne riis in the background during a press conference given by the spaniard following his doping suspension: alberto contador is accompanied by bjarne riis in the background during a press conference given by the spaniard following his doping suspension

Alberto Contador and Bjarne Riis

Alberto Contador, accompanied by his spokesman Jacinto Vidarte and Saxo Bank team manager Bjarne Riis, conducted a press conference today in his hometown of Pinto, Spain to discuss Monday's CAS decision in which the Spaniard's positive doping violation from the 2010 Tour de France was upheld.

Contador was banned for two years, backdated to his positive result in 2010, and will be eligible to compete again on August 5, 2012.

"The way I feel right now is deceived," said Contador. "My dreams have collapsed and my morale right now is very confused. There hasn't been one morning when I haven't asked myself how this happened.

"The hardest thing for me is how it's touched my family, people saying I'm guilty and talking of justice and injustice."

Contador continued to stress his innocence and expressed bafflement about the verdict to ban him for doping.

"I can't understand the final verdict," said Contador. "I've gone through everything, spent hours going over things. If there's anything I can do to prove my innocence I'll do it. There are many things that I cannot understand about this decision but for the moment I want to keep them to myself. I'm not an expert."

Contador was effusive in his praise of the support he's received since his positive test came to light in 2010, from family, friends and his team.

"I'd like to express my satisfaction will all the support. It's unbelievable all the support I've had since this has started. There have been months when I couldn't sleep, months where I wanted to stay at home and not ride a bike.

"There are many things I could say, but it's a decision that each of you has to decide on this verdict. This is going to follow me for many, many years."

The Spaniard was critical of the length of time it took for a final decision to be made and remained resolute that he would compete again once his ban expires this August.

"What has happened to me is not something I'd want to happen to anybody," said Contador. "For the good of cycling and sport in general this has to be faster. It cannot last as long as it has. I think it is very important and people need to work on this. I'll keep fighting until the end. The decision is now for the lawyers to look at. We're looking at all possibilities.

"I'm sure of one thing. I want to come back to ride the best races. I'll train clean as I've always done. Right now even though my morale is low I know I'll come back just as strong."

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User Comments

There are 21 comments on this post

Showing 1 - 21 of 21 comments

  • DOH!

  • I've heard this described on the radio here as a "positive test", but in fact they found minute quantities, below the threshold. From that perspective, it's a much less certain outcome than for Landis, or any of the other all to numerous examples.

  • GerardR - that's not quite right. They found minute quantities below the threshold is correct. However the threshold what the testers needed to be able to test for. NOT below the threshold of what quantity is allowed in the body.

    The testing threshold means is that if they sent the sample to a less efficient lab they would probably have found nothing but the lab it was sent to were the mutts nuts and they found it and since they found something in his body he failed the test.

  • I feel that there is very strong propaganda war going on in support of Contador. The drug was in his system and he couldn't give any substantial evidence to explain it. Despite all Contadors reported comments this could have all been over had he accepted the facts and the original 2 year ban in the first place. He knew and raced under a strict set of rules. Next he will be waging a campaign and then writing a book etc. But the facts will always be the same. A banned drug was found in his blood. In reality we the fans will always be left with questions about his performance.

    Unsportsmanlike behavior ruins all sports. We see more and more of it where the competitors think the rules don't apply to them.

    Tom

  • @TomBombadil

    'We see more and more of it where the competitors think the rules don't apply to them.'

    ...and unfortunately in cycling it's more common than it should be!

  • Regardless of guilt. This years tour will not be as exciting without him there, and for that reason I'm sad about this outcome.

  • A proven druggy should never be allowed to rejoin cycling in any capacity!!!! why do we as a society have to accept it.... By christ we have no morals or standards! kick his a**** out of the sport and permently shut the door on him! Let clean the sport up. It will also make a statement for future druggies!

    LETS STOP BEING SO BLEEDING NAMBY PAMBY!

  • Have to agree!

    kick him out of pro cycling.

    enough of these guys getting chance after chance.

    All at the expence of cycling.

    These guys get rich doping.

  • Dont worry about the tour not being exciting.There is GREAT young clean talent out there waiting to prove themselves.

  • this guy NEVER denied he had clenbuterol in his system.

    THEN he blamed tainted SPANISH meat. a claim that, IF TRUE, would force the EU to sanction spanish beef. thereby jeopardizing the spanish beef industry and many spanish ranchers and ranch hands.

    HOW for the life of me, can you still support this guy??!!!

  • I always thought he looked shifty.

  • I always thought he looked shifty.

  • David Millar is living proof that Contador should be allowed to race again. He's one of the sports biggest and most vocal advocates for fair play. I too have no idea whether Contador is guilty of doping or just enjoying a steak. Unless anyone here was privileged to hear the entire court case and have the specialist knowledge to understand the science behind the case then we cannot possibly judge. This was certainly not a black and white, binary case. It was shades of grey. I agree that this years TDF will be a weaker spectacle without him and Saxo Bank have an arduous road ahead of them to keep their Pro Tour status. Why this fiasco took 18 months to conclude is the biggest black mark over the sport. All labs should subscribe to the same testing standard. If labs have inferior equipment then samples should be sent elsewhere.

  • Ilindentree,I reckon this was a test case of sorts. The ban is saying 'we don't care how you came by this product in your system, it's mere presence renders you a doper unless you have substantive evidence to the contrary'.Presumably this is to prevent blood doping. It could be that contador doped from a sample of blood taken when he was using clenbuterol for weight loss. Or he ate some dodgy steak... unfortunately (perhaps) for contador if it was the latter the onus of proof is on him.BTW it's not a criminal court- the burden of proof is not beyond reasonable doubt

  • He is guilty simple, CAS have all the facts we don't, does anybody think that CAS just sat around and said... who thinks this could of be caused by some bad meat and guessed ? they would of looked at all the scientific facts as to see if this was possible or not, clearly they decided that this could not happen through eating meat, therefore this was his only defence, he must be guilty.

    I agree about Millar, but that ship has sailed now, we have the advocate and a brilliant one he is, now it should be a life ban, this stuff doesn't happen by accident, they choose to take drugs, times time to get real and issue life time bans.

    Lets also not forget about he Spanish cycling who let him go free, something needs to be done about those muppets as well, its all well and good talking about the length of time it took, but if they had the balls to ban their rider it would of been over a lot quicker.

  • The fact the Spaniards saw no wrongdoing just confirms that there may have been a legitimate reason (ie beef) that Clenbuterol was in his system. But...... it was in his system during the TDF and therefore he broke the rules. He should have been banned from the event.The lab standard is set at 200 picograms....... even this has negligible or no performance gains, hence why this level was choosen. 50 picograms bringing a jump in performance??? VERY unlikely.

  • Lindentree; the spanish press conference where Contador gave his first reaction to the verdict, the spanish reporters were *chanting his name*. In the face of that, how unbiassed do you think the spanish cyccling authorities are going to be?

    The principle is one of strict liability, the amount is irrelevant. It's a banned substance and it's in his body. How it got there is of no concern *unless* it can be proven to have been put there by others. It is harsh, but please listen to the bile spouted by others ("I have a naturally high testosterone level" ring any bells? how about "I have a letter from my doctor; my red blood cell count is always this high") when you think of giving the benefit of the doubt

    That said, I find it very difficult to have any sympathy with contador, same with ricco. arogant little snots the pair of them, so perhaps I'm the one who's biased

  • Every athlete should be given at least a second chance.

    As if no other sport dopes from american futbol to elite track and field athletes. Please lets not play the naive roll of everyone is happy joy. The society, the media, the sponsors, everyone is always in the quest for the biggest and most extreme super powers in front of the lens.

    What sucks is he stole those moments of glory from AS.

  • I still say that there was fault play from the very beginning. I have no proof, but this is my opinion. Nobody has to agree or disagree with me. Form your own.

    When Contador won the tour in 2009, he upset his his teammate who finished 3rd on his comeback. In 2010 his former teammate didn't even finished well in the GC. When Contador took the yellow jersey after beating Schleck , in the chain dropped scandal, I remember seing him in youtube watching Contador in complete disgust while the crowd shouted boos. In 2011 his former teammate announced his retirement with a statement implying that Contador was getting stronger while he was getting older and there was no way that he could beat Contador. There he relieved himself from posssible accusation in this case. Smart play I must say but predictable.

    Contador continues to fight as be believes he is innocent. It is either he is or he isn't, but if if he is spending time and money fighting this allegation than he must have a case or he is just an egomaniac just like his former teammate. One thing that he has not is EGO. A very humble guy who is respected in the peloton.

    Well, this is just a comparison: when Kennedy was assassinated, Johnson benefited the most by becoming the next POTUS. Now that Contador is decrowned, Schleck got promoted by default. Not saying that Schleck has anything to do with this but he did say" My stomach is full of anger. I want revenge".

    Live goes on.

  • I still say that there was fault play from the very beginning. I have no proof, but this is my opinion. Nobody has to agree or disagree with me. Form your own.

    When Contador won the tour in 2009, he upset his his teammate who finished 3rd on his comeback. In 2010 his former teammate didn't even finished well in the GC. When Contador took the yellow jersey after beating Schleck , in the chain dropped scandal, I remember seing him in youtube watching Contador in complete disgust while the crowd shouted boos. In 2011 his former teammate announced his retirement with a statement implying that Contador was getting stronger while he was getting older and there was no way that he could beat Contador. There he relieved himself from posssible accusation in this case. Smart play I must say but predictable.

    Contador continues to fight as be believes he is innocent. It is either he is or he isn't, but if if he is spending time and money fighting this allegation than he must have a case or he is just an egomaniac just like his former teammate. One thing that he has not is EGO. A very humble guy who is respected in the peloton.

    Well, this is just a comparison: when Kennedy was assassinated, Johnson benefited the most by becoming the next POTUS. Now that Contador is decrowned, Schleck got promoted by default. Not saying that Schleck has anything to do with this but he did say" My stomach is full of anger. I want revenge".

    Live goes on.

  • I still say that there was fault play from the very beginning. I have no proof, but this is my opinion. Nobody has to agree or disagree with me. Form your own.

    When Contador won the tour in 2009, he upset his his teammate who finished 3rd on his comeback. In 2010 his former teammate didn't even finished well in the GC. When Contador took the yellow jersey after beating Schleck , in the chain dropped scandal, I remember seing him in youtube watching Contador in complete disgust while the crowd shouted boos. In 2011 his former teammate announced his retirement with a statement implying that Contador was getting stronger while he was getting older and there was no way that he could beat Contador. There he relieved himself from posssible accusation in this case. Smart play I must say but predictable.

    Contador continues to fight as be believes he is innocent. It is either he is or he isn't, but if if he is spending time and money fighting this allegation than he must have a case or he is just an egomaniac just like his former teammate. One thing that he has not is EGO. A very humble guy who is respected in the peloton.

    Well, this is just a comparison: when Kennedy was assassinated, Johnson benefited the most by becoming the next POTUS. Now that Contador is decrowned, Schleck got promoted by default. Not saying that Schleck has anything to do with this but he did say" My stomach is full of anger. I want revenge".

    Live goes on.

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