Tour de France champion Alberto Contador tests positive for stimulant

[sonomak]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Reigning Tour de France champion Alberto Contador tested positive for the banned stimulant clenbuterol during this year's race, a spokesman confirmed Wednesday. The Spanish cycling star has scheduled a news conference for Thursday in his hometown of Pinto.

A statement from the spokesman, obtained by Cycling News and VeloNews, said the three-time Tour winner has consulted experts who "agreed this is a food contamination case."

Clenbuterol, used by asthma patients, is on the World Anti-Doping Agency's list of banned substances and is also banned by the international cycling organization that sets Tour anti-doping rules.

A positive result could cause authorities to strip the Tour title from Contador and suspend him for two years. Four years ago, American Floyd Landis had a positive test after winning the Tour and lost his title. It was Landis who made the allegations that Armstrong and other teammates facilitated drug use when they all rode for the now-defunct U.S. Postal Service.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/sports/sns-alberto-contador-drugs,0,530362.story

[boppers]

1. Can we stop pretending that *any* professional sport is honest?

Seriously, this is getting silly. If you're an "athlete", you're just a drugged up meat machine. I know it. You know it. Everybody knows it.

So why do we keep pretending?

[slackmaster]

2. WWGPS?

[tinrobot]

3. Shazam.

[TheEuclideanOne]

4. Seems like a safe gamble to me

How was he to know that they would test him for banned stimulants? :sarcasm:

[sybylla]

5. Exactly how does an asthma medicine end up in food?

"...food contamination case." WTF? I think this qualifies as the dumbest excuse ever.

[Nihil]

7. He dropped it on his plate when he missed his mouth.

>> experts who "agreed this is a food contamination case."

> I think this qualifies as the dumbest excuse ever.

I completely agree with you.

[BootinUp]

6. hilarious. nt

[saigon68]

8. What a Shock !!!!!

</sarcasm>

[StandingInLeftField]

9. A report on NPR this morning suggests a different take

The substance is a common additive to cattle feed to enhance muscle mass. Contador tested negative for the drug two days before and for several days after the positive test. The testing laboratory described the positive test as a "micro-dose" of the substance and much, much less than would be needed to provide any significant benefit.

As a life-long cyclist, I'm the first to condemn the widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports, professional bicycling in particular. However, in this instance based upon the lab's own results as reported by NPR, this may be a case of environmental contamination through ingestion of beef. I think I'll wait for more results before passing judgment.

[groundloop]

10. Thank you, good information

I hadn't heard that report on NPR, but that seems to make sense. There are so many drugs which get into our food and water that this explanation is certainly plausable, especially if the testing lab themselves indicated it was found at a very low level.