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[cyclist]

From VeloNews:


UPDATED: Contador banned two years
By Andrew Hood
Published Feb. 6, 2012
Updated 4 hours ago



. Andy Schleck (R) in the best young rider's jersey on his way to winning the 17th stage of the 2010 Tour de France ahead of overall leader, Spain's Alberto Contador, in the French Pyrenees. (file) Photo: Casey B. Gibson | www.cbgphoto.com
LLUCMAJOR, Spain (VN) – Alberto Contador received the worst possible news Monday: a two-year ban and the loss of his 2010 Tour de France crown as well as all results in 2011 and 2012.
 
Contador’s ban is back-dated and discounted for time during his provisional ban, meaning he will be able to return to competition on August 6.
 
The Court of Arbitration for Sport handed down the long-awaited ruling in the Spaniard’s long-running clenbuterol case as promised Monday (see statement below).
 
Contador becomes the second rider in Tour history to have his victory taken away for a doping violation – Floyd Landis was stripped of the 2006 Tour win after testing positive for synthetic testosterone.
 
Contador insists traces of clenbuterol entered his system after he ate contaminated steaks.
 
After months of deliberation, CAS rejected Contador’s arguments and overturned acquittal by the Spanish cycling federation in the controversial case that dragged on for more than a year and a half.
 
There was no immediate response from Contador.
 
“This is a sad day for our sport,” said UCI president Pat McQuaid in a statement by the cycling federation released Monday confirming the CAS ruling. “Some may think of it as a victory, but that is not at all the case. There are no winners when it comes to the issue of doping: every case, irrespective of its characteristics, is always a case too many.”
 
Contador tested positive for 50 picograms per milliliter of the muscle-building stimulant (a picogram is one trillionth of a gram) in urine samples collected on the Tour’s second rest day. The samples were analyzed in a WADA-approved lab in Cologne, Germany, one of the few labs in the world with the precise equipment to allow the detection of such small amounts.
 
Contador’s legal team claimed that the clenbuterol entered his system after eating steaks that were purchased in Irun, near the Spanish-French border, and brought to France, where Contador and some other then-Astana teammates dined on the team bus.
 
After the Spanish cycling federation cleared Contador, he immediately returned to competition, winning the Murcia and Catalunya tours ahead of the 2011 Giro d’Italia. He later finished fifth in the 2011 Tour.
 
WADA and UCI joined in an appeal and argued that Contador should receive a full ban.
 
The CAS statement:
 
“The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rendered its decision in the arbitration between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) & the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and the Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador & the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC): the CAS has partially upheld the appeals filed by WADA and the UCI and has found Alberto Contador guilty of a doping offence.
 

“As a consequence, Alberto Contador is sanctioned with a two-year period of ineligibility starting retroactively on 25 January 2011, minus the period of the provisional suspension served in 2010-2011 (5 months and 19 days). The suspension should therefore come to an end on 5 August 2012.”

[cyclist]

More from VeloNews:


Who ‘wins’ after Contador ban
By Andrew Hood
Published 7 hours ago


. 2009 Tour de France winner, Spain's Alberto Contador (L) rides behind yellow jersey of overall leader Luxembourg's Andy Schleck in the 184,5 km and 14th stage of the 2010 Tour de France between Revel and Ax-Trois-Domaines, southern France in Pyrenees region. (file) AFP PHOTO POOL / JOEL SAGET
ALCUDIA, Spain (VN) — No one is opening champagne bottles in the wake of Alberto Contador’s two-year ban for clenbuterol, but scores of results sheets will be adjusted following the CAS ruling to strip the Spaniard of all of his results dating back to 2010 Tour de France.
 
Here’s a rundown of Contador’s wins from 2010 Tour to present and adjusted ‘winners:’
 
2010 Tour de France
 
Andy Schleck will be declared the official champion after Contador becomes just the second rider in Tour history to lose his crown in a doping case. Floyd Landis became the first in 2006 when he tested positive for synthetic testosterone and Oscar Pereiro was later named winner.
 
Rounding out the adjusted podium will be Denis Menchov second, who was handed victory in the 2005 Vuelta a Espana in the wake of Roberto Heras’s positive for EPO. Third will be Samuel Sanchez. Schleck was diplomatic in his response to the CAS ruling: “There is no reason to be happy now,” he said Monday. “If I succeed this year, I will consider it as my first Tour victory.”
 
2011 Vuelta a Murcia (two stages and the GC)
 


Stage 2: Menchov is bumped to the stage-winner in the mountain-stage in what was Contador’s first win after being cleared by the Spanish cycling federation last year.
 Stage 3 (ITT): Jerome Coppel was second to Contador in the short, but decisive individual time trial
 GC: Coppel
 
2011 Volta a Catalunya (stage-win and GC)
 
Stage 3: Michele Scarponi was second to Contador in the climbing stage in Andorra
 GC: Scarponi
 
2011 Vuelta a Castilla y León
 
Stage 4 (ITT): Ex-Saxo Bank teammate Richie Porte was second to Contador in the decisive ITT. Contador later ceded the leader’s jersey in a climbing stage when he punctured with about 2km to go the finish line.
 
2011 Giro d’Italia (two stages and GC)
 
Stage 9: José Rujano was second to Contador up Mount Etna, when Contador blew apart the race to grab the pink jersey and never look back.
 Stage 16 (ITT): Vincenzo Nibali was second to Contador in the climbing time trial up Nevegal.
 Points jersey: Scarponi
 GC: Contador earns the dubious honor of becoming the first rider to see his Giro win stripped in a doping case. Scarponi, who finished 6:10 behind Contador, will become the Giro winner. Scarponi served his own racing ban after admitting his role in the Operación Puerto blood doping ring from 2006. Second will be Nibali with Frenchman John Gadret bumped onto the podium with third.
 
2012 Tour de San Luís (two stage wins)
 
Stage 3: Levi Leipheimer, who won the overall, was second to Contador in the climbing stage.
 Stage 5: Daniel Diaz, a South American rider who also won the best climber’s jersey, was second to Contador in another mountain stage.

[cyclist]

Still more from VeloNews:


Andy Schleck: ‘No reason to be happy’
By Andrew Hood
Published Feb. 6, 2012
Updated 3 hours ago


. Andy Schleck (R) in the best young rider's jersey celebrates after winning ahead of overall leader, Spain's Alberto Contador, during the 17th stage of the 2010 Tour de France between Pau and Col du Tourmalet pass in French Pyrenees. (file) AFP PHOTO PASCAL PAVANI
ALCUDIA, Spain (VN) — Andy Schleck says he takes no satisfaction out of Monday’s ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to award him the 2010 Tour de France.
 
Schleck will be declared the official winner after CAS stripped Alberto Contador of the victory in the wake of Monday’s ruling on the long-running clenbuterol case.
 
Schleck did not speak to reporters at the Mallorca Challenge in Spain, but released this statement via his RadioShack-Nissan-Trek team:
 
“There is no reason to be happy now”, Schleck said in the state. “First of all I feel sad for Alberto. I always believed in his innocence. This is just a very sad day for cycling. The only positive news is that there is a verdict after 566 days of uncertainty. We can finally move on.”
 
“I trust that the CAS judges took all things into consideration after reading a 4,000 page file. If now I am declared overall winner of the 2010 Tour de France it will not make me happy. I battled with Contador in that race and I lost. My goal is to win the Tour de France in a sportive way, being the best of all competitors, not in court. If I succeed this year, I will consider it as my first Tour victory.”
 
Schleck and Contador lined up together side-by-side before the start of Sunday’s opening stage of the four-day Mallorca Challenge. Schleck was overheard wishing Contador “good luck” with Monday’s expected ruling.
 
Schleck did not race in Monday’s leg of the Mallorca Challenge and instead went on a training ride. Speaking briefly to journalists before his ride, Schleck would only say he would not comment until the verdict was officially announced.
 
When he returned from his ride, team boss Johan Bruyneel said no members of the team would be allowed to speak to the collected media.
 Schleck becomes the second rider to be declared the winner of a Tour in a doping case.
 
In 2006, Floyd Landis tested positive for synthetic testosterone and Oscar Pereiro was later named winner of that year’s Tour.

[Lynch]

Sounds like drugs are worse in cycling than MLB. Or they just monitor it closer.

[cyclist]

Here are the TDF drug testing rules:

Drug testing at every stage
 
Every rider in the Tour is tested for banned substances prior to the race. Various cyclists are tested after every stage, according to a selection process determined before the race. Under current rules, at least 180 urine drug tests are given, including daily drug tests for the race leader and stage winner and six to eight cyclists selected at random throughout the field.

Tour drug tests are administered in accordance with the rules of the Union Cycliste Internationale and the French Federation of Cycling or Federation Françoise de Cyclisme. TheTour conducts banned substance testing under secure and strictly monitored conditions. A specially equipped caravan is established near the finish line of every stage to transport drug samples to a private location following the race. Drug test samples are then transported by private plane for analysis, and results are quickly reported to Tour officials.