London: Alberto Contador has been banned for two years and stripped of his 2010 Tour de France title after he was found guilty of doping by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The Spanish cyclist, who tested positive for clenbuterol during his 39-second victory over Andy Schleck in the Tour two years ago, will also lose his victory in the 2011 Giro d’Italia.
Schleck, who was engaged in a memorable battle with Contador as they scaled the Col du Tourmalet on that Tour, inherits the 2010 title as a result of the decision of CAS, which rejected Contador’s claim that his positive test was caused by eating contaminated meat.
A three-man panel upheld appeals by the International Cycling Union (UCI) and World Anti-Doping Agency, which challenged a Spanish Cycling Federation tribunal’s decision to exonerate the 29-year-old.
A statement from the UCI read: “In rejecting the defence argument, in particular that the presence of clenbuterol in Alberto Contador’s urine sample came from the consumption of contaminated meat, today’s ruling confirms the UCI’s position.
“However, the UCI has not derived a sense of satisfaction from the CAS ruling, but rather welcomes the news as the end of a long-running affair that has been extremely painful for cycling.”
Pat McQuaid, the UCI president, added: “This is a sad day for our sport. 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 becomes the second Tour de France winner to subsequently have the title taken from him, after Floyd Landis was stripped of his 2006 victory when he tested positive for testosterone.
He was ordered to serve a two-year suspension to start retroactively from January 25, 2011, but as he was provisionally suspended by the UCI for five months and 19 days, he will be eligible to ride again on August 5 this year.
His loss of the 2010 Tour title sees Denis Menchov, the Russian, move up to second and Spain’s Samuel Sanchez up to third. Michele Scarponi is the new winner of the 2011 Giro.
Contador’s positive test was given on a rest day on July 21, ahead of that dramatic head-to-head ride with Schleck up the Tourmalet that was won narrowly by the Luxembourg rider. The results were not confirmed publicly until September 2010, when the UCI announced it had provisionally suspended him pending an investigation by Spain’s cycling body.
He blamed steak bought from a Basque producer for his high reading of clenbuterol, which is sometimes used by farmers to fatten their livestock.
Contador was cleared last February by the Spanish Cycling Federation’s tribunal, which rejected a recommendation to impose a one-year ban. Days earlier, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero — the Spanish Prime Minister at the time — said on Twitter that there was no reason to punish the rider, who is a sports icon in his home country.
After the UCI and World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) appealed against the Spanish verdict, a twice-postponed hearing was heard by CAS in November.
The four-day session almost ended in chaos as lawyers for the UCI and Wada considered walking out when the panel chairman, Israeli lawyer Efraim Barak, prevented one of their expert witnesses from being questioned about the science of blood doping and transfusions.
