Alberto Contador suspended until August 2012 (loses all results July 2010 - Jan 2012)

[LaFlorecita]

but AC can still ride (and win) Vuelta, so will get some points for the year

will also ride the Autumn classics to get some points ... and worlds.

Saxo might still be ok

No they won't get points. UCI has stated Movistar can't use Valverde's points for the next two years, so I guess it'll be the same with Saxo and Contador.

 

[hrotha]

The funny thing is, (based on the press release) the CAS ruling essentially says the opposite. He ingested a contaminated food supplement isn't doping in anyone's book--unless you are adding a new chapter

Ok. I'm going to read the full report. Maybe my opinion changes.

I'm not adding any chapters. The guy was a cheat well before the 2010 Tour.

 

[LaFlorecita]

You really shouldn't push this point, it'll only blow up in your face.

Cantador won that Tour by attacking the yellow jersey while he had a mechanical. Cantador proved that year beyond any doubt that while he may be a great cyclist he will never be a great sportsman.

Should I argue? Nah, too tired.

 

[woodie]

but AC can still ride (and win) Vuelta, so will get some points for the year

will also ride the Autumn classics to get some points ... and worlds.

Saxo might still be ok

I thought points didn't count for one or two years for a doper coming back, if that's the case he won't be able to earn points for them

 

[LaFlorecita]

I thought points didn't count for one or two years for a doper coming back, if that's the case he won't be able to earn points for them

Yes, that's right.

 

[El Pistolero]

but AC can still ride (and win) Vuelta, so will get some points for the year

will also ride the Autumn classics to get some points ... and worlds.

Saxo might still be ok

Nope, Saxo is no longer WT team. I mean, if justice is what they want then justice needs to be done. Contador didn't win Tour or Giro, so Contador never earned any points for Saxo. Saxo is no longer a WT team in my eyes, so they'll not be able to race any WT events as all the wildcards have been given already. Sorry, no Ronde for you Nuyens!

 

[JA.Tri]

Will Saxo sack AC?

Probably not...BRiis will point to:

inadvertent ingestion of Clenbuterol via supplements
admit that "strict liability" requires ban
AC is a decent competitor and sportsperson
that Saxo will take all reasonable precaution to avoid recurrence.

Hence AC will be on the start line for the Vuelta...and what a bloody great race it will be!

 

[El Pistolero]

Why should Saxo be allowed to ride the Vuelta? They're not WT anymore, Contador didn't win Giro or Tour hence the points don't count. Unless they have a wildcard.

 

[Thomsena]

You really shouldn't push this point, it'll only blow up in your face.

Cantador won that Tour by attacking the yellow jersey while he had a mechanical. Cantador proved that year beyond any doubt that while he may be a great cyclist he will never be a great sportsman.

Haha.. You can disagree on the verdict as much as you like - that's fair enough but to call the rider who has almost given more victories away to other riders than he actually won himself unsportsmanlike is just laughable. Oh, and let's not forget Cancellara's cancelling of the race when Andy was on his **** 3 minutes after the peloton, shall we?

 

[Merckx index]

This contaminated supplement has really suckerpunched all of us. Supposedly it was ruled out at RFEC. But on what basis?I guess because Bert said so, which doesn't mean much. I missed that, and I guess everyone else did, too.

But is it really the most likely explanation? Again, remember Bert tested negative the day before. So he had to have taken the supplement one day and one day only during the Tour. It has been estimated that he ingested about 500 ng of CB in order to account for the level found in his urine. Even if he took an extremely small dose of supplement, say 1 mg,, that would correspond to 0.05%. I don’t know how likely it is that CB at that dose would turn up in a supplement.

This seems to me a place where Python’s fears of increased testing sensitivity are justified. I don’t think inspected meat will result in CB positives, but supplements might be a different story. If the CAS verdict reflects what really happened, Bert was just very unfortunate to be tested with a highly sensitive procedure. We might be reaching a point where supplements that have been conventionally considered clean can be found to be contaminated.

If Bert really did get CB from a supplement, he should know what he took. He probably doesn’t have a sample from the original batch, but he could get other samples of the same stuff and have them tested. If he could show that a lot of these samples test positive at a very low level, below the level conventionally detected, he might have a basis for an appeal. It might turn out that a large % of these supplements are contaminated in this sense. Then it becomes almost like inspected meat having detectable contamination.

At the very least, I think Bert should have been given a reduced sentence, one year, not two. Because taking a supplement with extremely low CB contamination is not much different from eating contaminated meat. One can argue that he is at fault, but not significant fault if the level is that low.

 

[Publicus]

I'm not adding any chapters. The guy was a cheat well before the 2010 Tour.

I'm just saying that, according to CAS, he isn't. You're entitled to think he's a cheat, but so far CAS isn't saying that.

 

[rhubroma]

It's not bizarre its actually very simple. Well simple minded. They only reason they even remotely like Contador is because of their pathological hate of Armstrong. If he still rode for Bruyneel they would hate Contador and they would be celebrating right now. Actually they would all likely be calling the decision unjust and saying he should be suspended for 1.5 years starting today.

But because of their hate of Armstong Contador can do no wrong in their eyes. If Contador gets picked up for murdering a troop of boy scouts tomorrow I am sure they would have a justification for why it was a humane and a just thing to do. In fact it was very courageous of him taking on those boy scouts all by himself.

Now that's a spurious reasoning and, paradoxically (in light of the accusation you made), rather simple minded.

I for one have found Contador to be agreeable because of the gentlemanly class with which he has always comported himself, Pharmstrong's got nothing to do with it.

Independent of the antipathy with which I have always regarded Pharmstrong, my judgment on Alberto resides in his personal character, which his presumed doping, in a world that's doped, has consequently left unaltered.

By contrast I have found Lance to be despicable, not because he doped, but for his nastiness and the fact that he's an arrogant bully.
But as to Contador’s ban, well, technically and morally it is the correct decision, even if in the hypocritical world of professional sports it is difficult to swallow, particularly in light of the way in which Lance was sustained by that hypocritical establishment and was basically able to get away with murder.

It’s the double standard thingy and the habitual mendacity of the sporting world that’s patently offensive in cases like these.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Will Saxo sack AC?

Probably not...BRiis will point to:

inadvertent ingestion of Clenbuterol via supplements
admit that "strict liability" requires ban
AC is a decent competitor and sportsperson
that Saxo will take all reasonable precaution to avoid recurrence.

Hence AC will be on the start line for the Vuelta...and what a bloody great race it will be!

And Bjarne trusts Alberto.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Nope, Saxo is no longer WT team. I mean, if justice is what they want then justice needs to be done. Contador didn't win Tour or Giro, so Contador never earned any points for Saxo. Saxo is no longer a WT team in my eyes, so they'll not be able to race any WT events as all the wildcards have been given already. Sorry, no Ronde for you Nuyens!

Jumping the gun there, El Pistachio?
If Saxo no longer WT team, then another wild card spot opens up.
No change. Too complicated. The status quo won't be further upset.

 

[JA.Tri]

Pro Tour points???

While AC will not contribute rider points for next 24 months, does AC's results contribute to Team points that are also used in ProTour calculations?

 

[The Hitch]

becareful there ....acf will call you a moron for bringing him up

You think im scared of acf

 

[El Pistolero]

Jumping the gun there, El Pistachio?
If Saxo no longer WT team, then another wild card spot opens up.
No change. Too complicated. The status quo won't be further upset.

No, merely asking for justice like anyone else

Saxo is no longer WT as they only earned points because he won the Giro and Tour. Did Contador win those events? Yes or no? If the answer is no should the team deserve those points? No, because the 2010 Tour was with help from a different team and Giro was without help in the mountains. Sorry, no points for Saxo or did they win some imaginary Grand Tours? Tour of Pity perhaps? How many points does that earn these days?

If you take someone's results away, you better have the balls to go all the way and face the consequences.

 

[hrotha]

I'm just saying that, according to CAS, he isn't. You're entitled to think he's a cheat, but so far CAS isn't saying that.

No, according to CAS his clen positive at the 2010 TdF is very unlikely to have been caused by a blood transfusion. Period. It doesn't say anything about Contador's previous and later career.

 

[straydog]

Honestly, I think this decision sets a very dangerous precedent for cycling:

In essence if a rider fails a dope test, all he has to do is ignore it, carry on riding (and earning), keep appealing, keep getting his CAS date put back (with UCI agreement it seems) until nearing the end of the two year sanction, then bam....a poxy six month ban....great....well done CAS!

There are other riders who have failed for Clen, and/ or claimed contaminated supplements who haven't had the financial clout that Contdador has, or the unqualified support of their federation, and guess what....they got their full 2 year bans. Suspended from date of fail, and no riding until appeal process was over.

This result makes a mockery of clean cycling. An absolute mockery. It stuck in my throat watching him last year at the tour and honestly I cheered when he got stuck behind that crash on day one, not because I hate him as a rider, he is clearly an exceptional talent, but because he is also clearly a cheat in every sense of the word.

Florecita....wow....you really do need to get out more....your myopia is truly amazing to watch. I don't know if I have ever seen someone so comprehensibly lose their entire self respect in public before. This thread seems to have rapidly become about your impending mental breakdown due to a cheat getting banned. Honestly, one day I hope you look back at this thread and ask a mod to delete all of your posts, otherwise I genuinely fear for you in your future life. Get some perspective, your boy got away easy. Any self respecting federation would have asked for four years as a minimum, instead he has one off season not racing (the initial "suspension") and misses one tour before his mighty comeback/ homecoming at the Vuelta.

Well it is what it is, whining isn't going to change it, so that's it for me, but I will personally be glad he isn't at the tour, and if I catch a Vuelta stage I'll be sure to pack my doctor's costume again, 'cos he seemed to enjoy that one last time.

Hope and pray he gets booed every time he throws his leg over a bike, to be honest.

Peace

 

[The Gnome]

At least Eddy is consistent, doping apologists across the board are better than those who live in a fantasy land.

true enough...maybe he also means this system we have where results are changed years later, others then labeled "winner" hurts the sport...in that sense, if that is how he meant it, I agree with him...I can't think of too many sports where results are changed so often...the average fan spends time watching the tour, gets excited as to who one and always it is the back of his mind, maybe they will tell me some other guy is the real winner a few years down the line...it has the feeling of fiction...not sure if there is really anything to do about it I guess...but the process surely could be better somehow? Seems to me the UCI has come up with a process which contains the worst of both worlds...

 

[Scirea]

Hope and pray he gets booed every time he throws his leg over a bike, to be honest.

Are you f*ckin nuts? They stole away 2 GTs from Alberto, possibly 3 and somehow he still ends up as the bad guy?

 

[roundabout]

Reading the award made me understand the delays. It's not an easy case to rule on.

I do forsee an appeal coming up.

Edit: I also agree with MI. a 2 year ban for what may be a contaminated supplement is a bit on the harsh side.

 

[FGimondi]

Justice in this case has finaly been done. Cantador delivered an adverse analytical finding for a no threshold substance and was unable to prove that he ingested it with no fault or negligence of his own. The legal side of the case has always been that straight forward but our jugdment has constantly been clouded by legally irrelevant arguments. As long as these were the facts of the case a 2 year suspencion was always the right decision.

The travesty in this case that will hurt both Cantador and the sport of cycling is that it was alowed to drag on for this amount of time. Cantador should have been handed his two year sanction back in 2010 and not alowed to race the whole of 2011 stealing victories, price money and glory from other deserving cyclist. Sadly for both Alberto Cantador and cycling spanish politics were alowed to intervene in the decision making. At last the legally just decision has been made in this case.

 

[JA.Tri]

Saxo Pro Tour

No idea on UCI rules for such a situation...

However natural justice would point to Saxo retaining ProTour status for this season...anyway I cannot envision UCI would have any protocol for this.

UCI would (to be uncharitable) be content to stand on their hands anyway, and let sleeping dogs lie.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Eddy M is becoming like Pele.