Posted on 09/29/2010 6:38:08 PM PDT by mainsail that
Tour de France champion Alberto Contador has reportedly tested positive for a banned substance, according to multiple reports.
The three-time champion reportedly tested positive on July 21, just days before he won the 2010 title. He has blamed contaminated food.
If true, he would be the second rider to win the race and later be found to have failed a drug test. Floyd Landis did so in 2006.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcsports.msnbc.com ...
I don't know. Just a guess: people that enjoy the sport maybe?
Every day we have a dozen pieces of financial “news” from money newsletters posted as news/activism, none of which are “political news”. And have you noticed the half-dozen dog stories every day, the innumerable teacher sex stories, and the like, none of which are “political news”?
I think we can afford a thread for racing, if we can have a thread every week for professional footbal, and for college football. Neither of which are “political news”.
Sounds like my kids when they were young, "Daddy everyone is doing it."
Sports threads belong in Sports Illustrated, not in a political forum.
Thanks, Vision. I had just seen the report and came here to see if it had been posted.
Grumble grumble
They do test during the Tour. That’s when Contador’s violation showed up.
They do. Lance Armstrong would often tweet about drug control showing up randomly in the months leading up to the tour.
HA reminds me of the old Pinky and the Brain skit:
Brain : Pinky are you pondering what I’m pondering
Pinky: Duh, I think so Brain, but how do we get the Spice Girls into the Paella.
LMFAO!!!
Too bad the French press never contaminated Lance's food so they could finally have their story they have been after for the last decade...
Yep. Lance has told many tales of doping agents interrupting family dinners, stalking him on vacation, walking in on him in the shower and he STILL hasn't ever tested positive.
I'm no fan of Contador's but I think I'm gonna need “further scientific investigation before any conclusion [can] be drawn,”too.
From R4R's NYT link: "Traces of clenbuterol have been found in nutritional supplements...The swimmer Jessica Hardy missed the 2008 Olympics after testing positive for the drug; she said she had taken a contaminated supplement. An arbitration panel later ruled that her claim was true and reduced her two-year ban to one year."
And here is a another story backing the notion that he ingested contaminated meat:
Tour de France champion Alberto Contador's claim that bad meat is to blame for his positive doping test is entirely plausible since clenbuterol is commonly given to animals destined for human consumption, experts say. The drug is often used to speed up growth in animals, including chickens, cows and pigs. Clenbuterol is usually stored in the liver or muscle tissue.
I mean, if you're gonna cheat, are ya gonna do it with trace elements of a banned substance that wouldn't do you any good in those quantities?
They had absolutely no business even provisionally suspending him &/or releasing this story unless they had the goods on this guy, even if he is a cabron. Cycling officials are way too cavalier about gratuitously harming their athletes' reputations without foundation.
Hi leilani!
I thought I’d read that clenbuterol had been banned as a supplement for meat animals in the US and Europe. And something about episodes in Europe & China where numerous people took very ill.
And these’s this - http://www.fsis.usda.gov/oa/background/clenbute.htm
At least in Contador’s case they waited until well after the ‘B’ was tested to announce the results.
“These guys are riding bicycles... Who cares?”
I believe I’ve heard that cycling is the most strenuous of all sports. Professional and serious cyclists are in better shape than other athletes, and cycling requires more stamina than football players, etc. Just what I’ve heard.
"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 all of this to UCI.
"The UCI understands perfectly what has happened. This is a different case because it's a clear case of contamination, incomparable to any other clenbuterol case.
"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."
Where did you get the info that it was banned for livestock in the EU, R4F? Not doubting, I just want to confirm.
I saw a reference that it was legal in Europe only for equine asthma, leilani. Will post it when I find it again.
oops, meant to ping you for the above post.
OK, thanks, leilani.
Spaniard brings them the ‘good meat’. Okaaaayyyyy...
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