Contador vows to meet doping allegation head-on

ALBERTO CONTADOR protested his innocence and insisted he can hold his head high in the wake of yesterday’s announcement that he tested positive for a banned substance en route to winning this year’s Tour de France.

Contador tested positive for clenbuterol on July 21 and has been provisionally suspended by the sport’s governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), although the Spaniard claims the positive result was caused by eating contaminated meat.

The UCI said in a statement that only a small amount of clenbuterol had been found in Contador’s urine sample during the test taken on the second rest day of the Tour de France and that further investigation was required.

The UCI statement read: “The concentration found by the laboratory was estimated at 50 picograms which is 400 times less than what the anti-doping laboratories accredited by WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) must be able to detect.”

A B sample confirmed the initial test result, leading the UCI to provisionally suspend Contador though UCI added further investigation are required before conclusions can be drawn.

Speaking from his home town of Pinto, near Madrid, Contador insisted he was innocent of any wrongdoing and questioned the testing system. The 27-year-old, who won Le Tour in 2007 and 2009 as well as this year, described any sanction as “intolerable”.

Explaining his version of events leading up to his positive test, Contador said: “This is an error. I was informed of this on August 24 by the UCI and on the 26th I met with them to give my version. The organiser of the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon came to the Tour and our cook asked if he could bring some good meat.

“This person bought this meat in a shop (in Spain) on the way to France. I don’t know where the shop gets their meat supply from. He arrived that day and on the afternoon of the 20th (July), a day before our rest day, the meat was cooked.” Contador said he was not the only rider to eat the meat, but that he was the only one of those who had who was tested on July 21.

“(Alexander Vinokourov) went to the (doping) control with me, but he hadn’t eaten the meat,” said Contador, who will ride for Team Saxo Bank next season after deciding to leave Astana. Of all the other riders, none went through the control. I told this to UCI. The UCI understands what happened.

“It’s such a minimal amount that it is only possible to come from a food contamination. And in terms of performance it would not be any use at all – any expert can confirm this.”

Contador admitted he was “sad and disappointed” but insists he has nothing to hide. “I’m sad and disappointed but I can hold my head high because with the truth in front of me I can talk loud and clear,” he said.

The Tour runner-up, Andy Schleck, said via Twitter he hoped the Spaniard was innocent, adding: “I think hedeserves the right to defend himself.” The organisers of the Tour de France said they were awaiting the outcome of the cycling authorities’ inquiries.

Meanwhile, the results of the Tour of Spain may have to be amended after it was announced the substance hydroxethyl starch was present in first tests on urine samples taken from the Vuelta runner-up, Ezequiel Mosquera, and his team-mate David García Dapena on September 16. The two riders can request tests on their B-samples.