Alberto Contador Tests Positive For Clenbuterol

Well now, the mysterious ways of WADA and the UCI continue. Alberto Contador winner of the the 2010 Tour de France tested positive for clenbuterol during a rest day of the race.

The date of the final Alberto Contador positive test results done at the Cologne WADA accredited testing laboratory is unknown; but it has been asserted from numerous press releases that a "B" sample confirmed the "A" sample. Therefore, WADA and the UCI cannot be accused of a premature release of the laboratory results as was the case during the Floyd Landis case. In fact, when Pat McQuaid was questioned as to the validity of the Alberto Contador positive result, he denied the rumor as unfounded. Some speculation exists as to whether the UCI withheld public information to provide Alberto Contador and his legal team more time to improve a credible defense. This astounding about face by Pat McQuaid and the UCI is directly apposite of the furious "rush to judgement" that Floyd Landis experienced during his "A" sample positive test for testosterone during the 2006 Tour de France. Judgements to the guilt of Floyd Landis were forthcoming from the mouths of anti-doping authorities before Floyd Landis or his legal team even had time to see the Laboratory Document Package or before a confirmatory "B" test could be run. Current critics of the anti-doping crusade should not be too condemnatory about an abundance of caution in the Alberto Contador alleged doping case; indeed, this cautious approach should be commended.

Clenbuterol is a beta-adrenergic agonist and is used as a decongestant and bronchodilator. Clenbuterol has been used in cycling since the middle sixties. Clenbuterol is listed on the WADA prohibited substance list. Clenbuterol is also used illegally in meat production to increase protein syntheses and to promote leanness in cattle.

Alberto Contador insists that his test results were caused by a friend giving him tainted meat imported into France from Spain. Of course, this reasoning is speculative because there is no way to prove that the meat was tainted; other members of the Astana cycling team did eat the same meat but none were randomly tested that day for prohibited substances; so there is no independent confirmation of Alberto Contador's claim.

Notable anti-doping expert Rasmus Damsgaard believes that Alberto Contador tested positive for clenbuterol because he received a blood transfusion from stored blood taken before the Tour de France then transfused during the race. If Damsgaard is correct: Alberto Contador would be guilty of two separate doping violations, not one, and the suspension period could be extended.

The amount of clenbuterol detected in Alberto Contador was so small as to be almost undetectable. Never mind the argument that such insignificant amounts do not increase performance. This argument under the WADA strict liability provision of WADA code will not be efficacious. The mere presence of a prohibited substance; by definition; implies an intent to cheat and culpability. Even in cases where athletes were caught with a prohibited substance in their systems due to a chemical reformulation: say a topical solution (example: a topical solution in Europe is clean while the "identical" American version contains a prohibited substance) warrants a one year suspension. This is the least amount of suspension that Alberto Contador could expect from the Court of Arbitration of Sport; even if he ate the tainted meat by accident! Of course, the 2010 Tour de France title and prize money will also be voided.

Floyd Landis was the first and we hoped the last person to be stripped of a Tour de France title for doping. Now this hall of shame may include other notable miscreants such as Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong!

Gentlemen: listen to reason. You may think that your cheating ways will escape detection by the laboratories; but no matter how sophisticated your methods, the gas chromatic spectrogram employed these days are very accurate. Your certainty of being caught is almost one hundred percent. Quit your nefarious ways; you are undermining our sport and making me ill in the process!

Floyd Landis; New Age Lunacy In Cycling

It is curious that the amount of doping has diminished so quickly this year. There is really very few stories of interest. The Lance Armstrong doping investigation is moving at a glacial rate, Greg LeMond and his deranged wife Kathy are still making allegations; The New York Times has reported that witnesses are inconsistent in their testimony and this indicates perjury! Lance Armstrong, in his Tour de France championship period, was so intimidating that he could pressure people to lie or their careers could be terminated; or so claims Greg LeMond.

It would be great if a witness recalled the same thing; but as any good attorney will tell you this may not happen. A consistent witness does not create havoc with flip flops. If you testify to the fact that you did not hear Lance Armstrong tell doctors that he used performance enhancing drugs at Indiana University Hospital; and then confide to Greg LeMond in a telephone conversation later that Betsy Andreu was telling the truth; well what are we to make of these inconsistencies?

No matter, the Lance Armstrong probe is dealing with lunatics who are examples of what athletic prowess should not be; greedy people who cheat and then lie about it. Floyd Landis is a summa cum-laude member of the fraternity of greedy creeps who know no bounds of cunning and deceit. Tyler Hamilton also must be included as a supreme deceiver; a man who cheated his way into a Olympic gold medal and then refused to relinquish it because of a stupid laboratory error. Very credible witnesses. The cross examination of these people; under oath; should provide some very interesting information into the psychological bases of doping, the pathological bases of lying; and the motivational aspects of risk/reward behavior. Why would a person risk taking performance enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France when the possible consequences of being caught portends such awful consequences; such as suspensions and permanent ostracism?

But ask Floyd Landis; he rationalizes everything as much ado about nothing, because everybody was doing it. Floyd Landis even claims that Lance Armstrong encouraged performance drug use during the U. S. Postal Service days. Really? Floyd Landis seems challenged; maybe he suffers from mental incapacity and is not responsible for his behavior. After all, when Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso were escorted back to the team hotels from the Tour de France depart after being implicated in Operation Puerto; and when the UCI and WADA were hyper vigilant about detecting dopers; and when the cycling public was at a hysterical pitch demanding doper blood; you would think that Floyd Landis and Team Phonak would get the message to ride clean. But no, the temptation of winning! the accolades! the money! outweighed common sense; because as Floyd Landis would reason everyone else did it! Riis did it! Ullrich did it! Pantani did it! Armstrong did it! And they were never caught or punished for their crimes.

This is the sort of people that the government investigation must rely upon: obvious psychopaths and lunatics who use deranged arguments to support their bloated egoistic desire for money and fame. Then there is a certain person; Greg LeMond: who would resort to any tactic to support his legendary status; even though at this date he is nothing more than a washed up old hack!

It has occured to me recently that this whole Lance Armstrong probe would be nothing more than old lady gossip and not very interesting; except for the fact that there are so many crazies involved. Does the sport of cycling really attract this sort of people?

Former Tour de France winners do have an unnatural tendency to commit suicide, do they not?