Contador’s CAS chronology

Spanish bull

“One can only regret the time lag between the sports and media, and that of justice”

Those are the words of Tour de France organiser Christian Prudhomme, discussing the almost never-ending series of delays and postponments to the saga that is Alberto Contador’s positive test for Clenbuterol. Reading the Velonation article, Prudhomme says he “won’t block Contador” but he is frustrated with the delays and rightly so given the uncertainties, question marks and apparent inability of the sport to sort out this matter.

In the piece, I saw a timeline of events mentioned. I think it might be worth going in to greater detail here, to explore why this is taking so long, and to revisit the basic rules in the light of these delays, in case we forget what it’s all about.

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Is Contador welcome at the Tour de France?

Christian Prudhomme

Tour de France organiser Christian Prudhomme has said he wants the matter of Alberto Contador’s Clenbuterol samples settled. “The only thing which we want is to have a response. It is the most important thing. Too often we are in a grey area” he told AFP in March.

But things are now set to stay grey for some time. Yesterday we heard that Court of Arbitration for Sport has postponed the double appeal from the UCI ad WADA at the request of Alberto Contador’s defence team. Fair enough, a hearing should always go ahead when both sides are ready. But at the same time, I can’t help noticing lawyers are paid by the hour and Contador is paid monthly and the incentives to play this one for as long as possible. The “contaminated beef” hypothesis was first presented in late August after all.

Fast forward to the present and Contador hadn’t reached cruising speed in the Giro’s opening team time trial before the Italian TV commentators mentioned the pending appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. It wasn’t an auspicious start for the Giro. To mention the race favourite is linked to an appeal and allegations of doping is like a magician opening his act with the words “this isn’t real and don’t watch my left hand too close“.

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Contador’s jersey giveaway

Trofeo Senza Fine

It might sound strange at first but right now Alberto Contador is desperate to unload the Giro’s pink jersey and try as he might, it’s not happening. During today’s stage he was seen on TV talking to Garmin-Cervélo riders Murilo Fischer and David Millar whilst Christophe Le Mevel was up the road in the breakaway, presumably saying he’d be perfectly happy to see Le Mevel stay away if the Frenchman could only take the lead on the GC. This isn’t a secret either, much of the media are reporting this, for example cyclingnews.com.

Why?
Well the jersey comes with prize money and publicity each day but Contador and his team have eyes on the bigger prize: the overall win and the Trofeo Senza Fine, the “trophy without end” pictured above that goes to the winner in Milan.

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What next for Contador?

Contador
Going up or down?

There had been fears that the Contador case could drag on and on, with the appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) lasting until September. But the CAS has the means to expedite a case if all parties agree. Whilst due process has to be followed, the calendar can be shortened substantially if each party files documents speedily, as opposed to waiting for deadline for each stage of the process.

Now that the dust has settled on the RFEC verdict and the appeal has been announced, I want to take a look at a few issues related to this.

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What next for Contador?

Contador worries

Rather than filling up Twitter with a series of 140 character statements, questions and thoughts, it’s better to put everything into one post.

First, the news has just arrived that the UCI is going to take Alberto Contador and the Spanish Federation, the RFEC to the Court for Arbitration for Sport in order to appeal the verdict given by the RFEC following Contador’s non-negative test for Clenbuterol.

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Call the CAS

The news that the Spanish federation cleared Contador in the absence of proof is a confirmation that the existing rules were cast aside. The principle of “strict liability” has been abandoned, instead the RFEC says: “The minimal amount detected could not presume an improvement in sporting performance… …This brings us to the conclusion that with … Read more

The Giro d’Italia to be re-routed?

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, known as il Risorgimento, “the Resurgence”. 150 years ago this week the citadel of Gaeta, about halfway between Rome and Naples, surrendered after a two month siege and King Vittorio Emanuele II proclaimed the nation unified. The 2011 edition of the Giro d’Italia promises to … Read more

Over on cyclingnews.com

I’ve always wanted to appear on cyclingnews.com, preferably a big article with images of me winning a mountain stage in front of an adoring crowd. Barring a late discovery that I’ve been getting my training very, very wrong that’s never going to happen. So when the editor of cyclingnews.com got in touch to ask for … Read more

UCI Rule 357: Contador’s escape hatch?

L’Equipe is reporting that Contador’s get out from sanction is due to a technicality, the same story has been put in English over at Velonation. In boils down to a right under the Spanish constitution to be informed of any accusation. A fundamental human right. In absence of official explanation from the Spanish authorities, I’m … Read more

What next for Contador?

Alberto Contador is set to be cleared by the Spanish cycling federation, the RFEC. His defence has rested on two factors: The quantity of Clenbuterol detected was too small to have a performance enhancement. The principle of “strict liability” in the anti-doping rules is unreasonable. Yet these rules have no minimum tolerance for Clenbuterol and … Read more