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| Closure? |
It is rarely good news when cycling is hitting the headlines in early February and this past week has been no exception. Two big developments in two big doping stories are never good for the sport’s public image. However on the positive side, both present a move towards the resolution of two massive clouds that have been hanging over the sport for a while now. The sun is beginning to shine through.
I’m going to be honest, I don’t like writing about doping. If I could then I would just concentrate on the racing (of which there’s quite a bit at the moment – more on that soon). However it seems necessary to write, if only briefly, about these two cases seeing as, unfortunately, they are likely to be two of the biggest stories of the year.
Contador, CAS, Steaks, And All That Shit
For those of you who have been living in a cave for the last few days, Alberto Contador has been given a retrospective two year ban, with all his results from the 2010 Tour de France onwards wiped from the record.
Obviously this is a massive blow for Contador, not just for his cycling career, but also for his bank account. He assembled a massive team of lawyers and advisers for a year and a half only to have CAS read him back the WADA code in black and white:
A banned substance was found in his body.
He could not prove that it was not ingested by accident.
Banned.
For me this seems fair enough. Clenbuterol is a banned substance under WADA regulations and it was detected in Contador’s system in Pau on the second rest day of the 2010 Tour de France. Legally, under the principle of strict liability it is the Spaniard’s responsibility to provide hard evidence that the drug was there by accident i.e. prove that his steak was contaminated. WADA and the UCI do not have to prove that the drug was present through more sinister circumstances.
Nonetheless a two year ban seems harsh. WADA and the UCI tried to present evidence that Contador was blood doping and using plasticisers, but CAS dismissed this as just as unlikely as the flimsy meat contamination story of the defence. In this way there was little evidence that the level of clenbuterol that was found in Contador’s system on that fateful day in Pau could have offered any tangible performance benefits. It would have therefore have been better had CAS shown a human side and offered leniency in the form of a 6 month or 1 year ban.
Meanwhile Contador has vowed to fight on to prove his innocence. If he wants to continue to pursue this legally then he can still go the Swiss Courts or the European Court of Human Rights, but the former is rarely successful and the latter can take years. I get the feeling that he has spent more than enough on lawyers already.
A better approach may just be to maintain his innocence while sitting out until 5 August (when his ban ends). This way would allow him to avoid confrontation therefore putting the whole episode behind him, the most beneficial path for the sport as a whole. We just need to move on.
The possibility had been raised by a number of bloggers that, seeing as the UCI is now seeking a €2,485,000 fine from Contador, other riders such as Andy Schleck and Michele Scarponi may look to follow legal proceedings for loss of income due to not being able to capitalise on the sponsorship potential of being the ‘rightful’ winners of the 2010 Tour de France and the 2011 Giro d’Italia respectively. However, this would be largely out of keeping with the general reaction of the peloton which has come together in solidarity with Contador. Schleck and Scarponi have both spoken in support of the Spaniard, saying that they do not consider themselves the true winners of the races.
The controversy about this case therefore continues to limp on. It seems that few are completely happy with the verdict from those maintaining Contador’s innocence and pointing to the lack of performance benefits, others who think that an effective 6 month ban from competition is not enough, to small minority using this case as justification for the lifetime ban of dopers.
However, 566 days after Contador crossed the line on the Champs-Élysées we do seem to have finally got some closure on this case. I personally believe that a ban was the right move, but the severity seems overzealous, but whatever your opinion, let’s agree now we have finally got the CAS verdict cycling can move on.
This case is hopefully now behind us. It’s time for a new season.
Student Cyclist 