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

[issoisso]

We could make a fortune printing and selling "Save Contador from Unemployment" t-shirts

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Are thinking of passing round a hat to get a collection going

haha
.....

 

[Benotti69]

haha
.....

what colour is Clen? we make some bracelets in the same colour and sell them donating all the profits to Alberto....

with the slogan 'Bert will ride again'

 

[Fidolix]

Actual there was proof, he returned an adverse analytical finding for clenbuterol. He failed to meet his burden to establish how the CB entered his system. As a result he was sanctioned. The opinion is flawed (IMO), but that's not the same thing as saying he was railroaded.

True, but it´s not been established how the clen entered hes body, just that it was present. As I said earlier, hes guilty/responsible accordingly to the rule of strict liability, but it´s still not proof of any wrong doing.

 

[sniper]

this pro-contador show going on in spain at the moment is quite sad and not really clever if they want the bad and jealous outside world to regain confidence in spanish sports.

 

[Benotti69]

True, but it´s not been established how the clen entered hes body, just that it was present. As I said earlier, hes guilty/responsible accordingly to the rule of strict liability, but it´s still not proof of any wrong doing.

"... it´s still not proof of any wrong doing."

What do you want the syringes, blood bags, tablets, video evidence of the transfusions and then re-infusions?

He's guilty. He's a doper. He is not the winner of the Tdf 2010 nor the Giro 2011 and all the races he won in between.

Guilty.

 

[Fidolix]

HIs contract has in fact been dissolved and Contador is no longer with Saxo Bank.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/riis-continues-to-support-contador-despite-ban


Susan

Maybe you should await confirmation..

"Riis Cycling continues to support Alberto Contador

After having the time to review the ruling from The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the case concerning Alberto Contador, Riis Cycling continues to support the Spanish rider.

The ruling states that Alberto Contador has to serve a ban, because he had a banned substance in his body and was unable to prove how it entered his system."

Saxo bank´s own release AFTER the press conference.

 

[Benotti69]

Where is Astana in all this?

Should questions not be asked of them? He was their rider!

 

[Fidolix]

"... it´s still not proof of any wrong doing."

What do you want the syringes, blood bags, tablets, video evidence of the transfusions and then re-infusions?

He's guilty. He's a doper. He is not the winner of the Tdf 2010 nor the Giro 2011 and all the races he won in between.

Guilty.

Can I get a look at your crystal ball Ben?
Or should I just take same drugs you on?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Maybe you should await confirmation..

"Riis Cycling continues to support Alberto Contador

After having the time to review the ruling from The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the case concerning Alberto Contador, Riis Cycling continues to support the Spanish rider.

The ruling states that Alberto Contador has to serve a ban, because he had a banned substance in his body and was unable to prove how it entered his system."

Saxo bank´s own release AFTER the press conference.

Actually I think he is fired. They have to. It's standard policy.

Bjarne does want to resign Alberto in the future.

 

[Publicus]

True, but it´s not been established how the clen entered hes body, just that it was present. As I said earlier, hes guilty/responsible accordingly to the rule of strict liability, but it´s still not proof of any wrong doing.

He was under an obligation to demonstrate that. According to CAS, he failed to meet that burden. I have my disagreements with the opinion, but I would caution you not to over-interpret what transpired.

 

[The Hitch]

You are welcome, nephew.

Check out http://www.cyclingnews.com they have really neat up-to-date news about what is going on the cycling world......

Susan

lol. Good to have some comedy in here now and again

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

Maybe you should await confirmation..

"Riis Cycling continues to support Alberto Contador

After having the time to review the ruling from The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the case concerning Alberto Contador, Riis Cycling continues to support the Spanish rider.

The ruling states that Alberto Contador has to serve a ban, because he had a banned substance in his body and was unable to prove how it entered his system."

Saxo bank´s own release AFTER the press conference.

Support does not necessarily mean employ.

This is from the CN report on the presser:

However, the Danish ex-Tour champion stated that because Contador is no longer able to race, the contract between him and the Saxo Bank team will be suspended.

"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.


Susan

 

[hrotha]

There is no way he doesn't sign with Movistar now.

I wouldn't be so sure. All his pals have contracts with Saxo.

On the other hand, I imagine most of them had a 2-year contract, so if they can hang in there without their babysitter until August, they could make it through the whole season and rejoin Contador at Movistar next year?

 

[pedaling squares]

50 picograms of clen should not weight the same as EPO and blood transfusions and CERA.

Nor should unknowingly taking the substance weight the same as knowingly cheating.

Nor should unproven weight the same as proven.

See what i'm getting at here?

Not really. Not when the 50 picos of clen is potentially residual from a.... wait for it...... blood transfusion.

I've already addressed your point in a previous post--two to be exact. I've moved on from the matter. You are of course welcome to continuing belaboring the point (as history has shown is your wont ), but I'm not interested in participating. If you like you can tell everyone you bested a lawyer on the Internet! Don't forget the #winning hashtag or it doesn't count

Now that's a funny post!

 

[Fidolix]

Actually I think he is fired. They have to. It's standard policy.

Bjarne does want to resign Alberto in the future.

My bad, it was released right before the conference, but I don´t think it will change anything.

I hardly can imagine they would take a stand already about this dilemma, although you are right, it´s standard policy also for Saxo bank.

But here´s a translation of Riis´s comments after and during the conference.

We have the team decided to support Alberto Contador 100%. We trust fully that he has not done anything wrong. We have supported Alberto Contador during the entire trial, and we will continue, "said team owner clearly, who also put much emphasis on words in order from CAS

"According to the evidence from the CAS had Alberto Contador not knowingly taken illegal substances. In the case of an accident. It has been very important to us, "said Riis.

 

[Fetisoff]

Of course for him to move to Movistar Specialized would probably have to dump him as well

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

When they say supplements they mean vitamins and other dietary supplements. Essentially they claim he took a contaminated supplement that for some reason he refuses to disclose (how they arrive at the conclusion is beyond me).

Thanks. Sounds then like they are talking about legal supplements (not on some banned list). If that's true and I was Alberto, I'd have been all over that trying find out more about the product quality of those supplements I was using.

 

[Fidolix]

Support does not necessarily mean employ.

This is from the CN report on the presser:

However, the Danish ex-Tour champion stated that because Contador is no longer able to race, the contract between him and the Saxo Bank team will be suspended.

"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.


Susan

Suspended doesn´t mean fired!

 

[LaFlorecita]

Flo... I´m a guy for christ sake

Btw, the press conference is now shown on eurosport.

But Carol isn't...

And come on, even a guy should see how pretty his eyes are.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Usually it would be painful to see a press conference like this, but in this case it's actually funny to see Contador saying all these things about not doping and being innocent simply because his entire body language screams "I don't believe a word I'm saying"

EDIT: There was one part where his body language was completely different though. The part where he very convincingly begged "If there's anything else I can do to prove my innocence please tell me what it is"

Actually I think his body language shows how frustrated he is that he's banned while he didn't dope at all.

 

[bjbest]

Ruling details way more interesting

The whole ruling is way, way more interesting than the press releases suggest. WADA was convinced AC had a reticulocyte transfusion on July 20th, and a plasma transfusion on the 21st to keep his blood profile balanced, and that the plasma was the source of the clenbuterol, while the red blood cell transfusion carried the plasticizers. Michael Ashenden testified to AC showing a history of blood manipulation going back through 2007.

The arbitration panel in trying to figure out how likely this was, noted that:
*WADA would have prosecuted this separately if they had solid evidence, and
*AC's legal team argued that the amount of clenbuterol someone would have to take to cause a plasma spike bordered on TOXIC concentrations (plasma transfusions don't carry much clenbuterol over to the recipient)
*You'd have to be really dumb to allow this to happen

They took these together, and decided that WADA's scenerio wasn't likely because AC wouldn't be that dumb (who dopes and then withdraws and stores the plasma?), and AC's claims about clenbuterol-laden steak, were also less likely than the contaminated supplement scenario.

 

[Fidolix]

He was under an obligation to demonstrate that. According to CAS, he failed to meet that burden. I have my disagreements with the opinion, but I would caution you not to over-interpret what transpired.

yes I know the steak was eaten, it´s hard to proof anything that is not there.
And I´m not taking stand to whatever I think hes a doper or not, I only look at the evidence presented, and fact is, it´s not been proven.
That Contador have the burden of proof still don´t change the fact that neither UCI or WADA could proof how the clen entered hes body, so in legal terms we still don´t know.
What I personal think is extraneous.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

I can't for the life of me see the logic in this argument. So Contador has a burden of proof, on the balance of probabilities, to show no fault or negligence right? So, what we're saying is, had he submitted the exact same evidence, but just appended an argument that a supplement (that he didn't to his knowledge take) might have been contaminated then - given that CAS decided, on the balance of probabilities, that this was the most likely explanation - then he would have satisfied his burden of proof and would have got off? How can that make any kind of sense?

I think I understand your question. What I meant is, if AC came out now (say after considering more carefully CAS's question about other possible sources of contaminants that he may have ingested) and said he may have taken a contaminated supplement that was responsible for his +ive result for CLEN, then that may have bought him some more time to try and prove that hypothesis. And to prove such a new hypothesis would take quite a bit of research and digging into suppliers, reviewing suppliers quality assurance records (if they exist), and maybe even testing of product samples, and so. That does not mean he would have gotton off Scott free, but it could mean CAS may have delayed the decision until such a time when more information was available regarding any new hypothesis. But that's "IF" CAS was willing to show some leniency and let him have another chance to defend himself.

In other words, if the cards were played a little differently, AC could still be racing at this time.

 

[Walkman]

Contador are saying that:

"If there's anything I can do to prove my innocence I'll do it."

Why didn't you provide a hair sample when that was up for discussion, would be my question? As far as I know, no hair test was taken despite the fact that a hair test could determine if the clen had been used long term.

Seems kind of weird if he was innocent.