Alberto Contador, Tour de France 2010, stage 15
French sports newspaper L'Equipe has published an article alleging that the same urine sample from Alberto Contador that tested positive for clenbuterol during the 2010 Tour de France also contained a substance that could indicate the use of an intravenous blood bag.
L'Equipe claims to have received information that Tour winner Contador's urine sample taken on July 21 during the Tour's rest day in Pau contained traces of a plasticizer by-product (di-(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate metabolite) associated with the use of intravenous (IV) blood bags of the sort used for blood transfusions.
This method of detecting the use of IV bags was developed by an anti-doping laboratory in Barcelona, which published a scientific paper in 2009 on the use of the test to detect blood transfusions in athletes.
The substance in question is not on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) banned list and the test itself has not been approved for use as an anti-doping test. However, the substance's presence - if confirmed - in Contador's urine sample does raise serious questions as non-medical intravenous infusions are banned under WADA guidelines.
Contador's case is currently under scrutiny by the UCI, and he is suspended from competition pending further investigation. Contador himself is claiming that the clenbuterol found in his sample came from contaminated meat.
L'Equipe is part of the Amaury Group that also includes Tour de France organiser Amaury Sport Organisation.
Contador positive test: Related links
Contador points finger at imported meat for clenbuterol positive
Contador tests positive for clenbuterol says governing body
Reader comments
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John Hay, Jr.
October 01 18:48
Of course, L'Equip has been hounding Armstrong with unfounded or unprovable allegations for years. Consider the source...unless more objective ones can corroborate.
Neil Kent
October 01 20:23
You say consider the source but if it wasn't for the news of the world paper then cricket match fixing would still be in the underground, i think the same applies here. Governing bodies don't go 100% into cleaning problems up where as journalists rightly or wrongly dig up the dirt. Contador has obviously being blood doping and has got careless, the meat contamination excuse is laughable.
billy mcmeekin
October 01 20:36
if this turns out to be true we might as well all pack in now i for one am finding it very hard to trust anyone in the pro ranks i have started feeling guilty just being a cyclist?
Rob Harper
October 01 21:32
You could of guaranteed a thousand smarmy comments had this been Armstrong!
k miller
October 01 23:18
this whole thing has got out of hand .no other sport is so stupid . the UCI are going to drive sponsors away .we have seen what has happend to armstrong .are the media now to turn on contador . the revolutionary zeal of the self righteous has turned me into an Armstrong supporter _ something the seven TOF failed to do I am not as i may be accused of putting my head in the sand I have been a cyclist for sixty years in that time I have seen most of the great s many of whom did not live in to late middle age most likley because of substance abuce .make no mistake drugs kill .it is the type of individual that has take up the cause that fills me with unease The gentleman from the FDA who is conducting the witch hunt against armstrong is in my opinion nothing but a vile parasitical pen pusher hell bent on making a name for himself I would add that although armestrong may mot be the best of people he is one hundred times the man than the gentleman from the FDA IN my opinion the UCI should stop feeding the media with unproven headlines and draw a line over the past set a date in the not to distant future after which anyone tha t is proven to be guilty would be banned for life from any branch of cycle sport including writing for the press
Jon
October 01 23:20
He's only fibbing a bit then - it was contaminated blood which is kind of like contaminated meat. I thought the meat story sounded a bit too well rehearsed.
Mickey
October 02 00:04
The authorities seem intent on destroying any chance that Cycling has of restoring its popularity at a time when interest in the sport is growing once again. Can you imagine football authorities telling us that one of its players had tested positive during a non approved test for a non-banned substance!
Cavologuardi
October 02 16:15
The 'gentleman' from the FDA is just doing his job... and it seems he's very good at it... adios Tex... and good riddance to you. The problem with cyclists on the pro tour is that even when they are very good at their jobs they cannot help looking for that little bit extra that turns the very good into the potentially great but actually just makes them dirty, rotten cheats. Personally, I wouldn't trust a single Spanish, Italian or American professional rider. Over the last year or so, I've tried really hard to convince myself that things have changed. I've obviously been deluding myself. Yet again. Why I waste my time following these clowns, I really don't know. I'll be up first thing tomorrow morning to watch the Worlds. What a dupe! If you want to clean up sport in general, not just cycling, don't just ban those caught, make them repay every penny they've ever 'earned' from their respective sports... and then send them to sing sing for fraud.
Andrew
October 02 17:24
The presence of DEHP plasticiser metabolites isn't in itself of any significance. 25% of American women have levels high enough to give concern about birth abnormalities ( http://pubs.acs.org/action/showStoryContent?doi=10.1021/on.2008.11.12.154968& ). If there is a sudden spike in levels in someone tested regularly that's coincident with something else (such as clenbuterol), then there would be grounds for suspecting transfusions.
Mike
October 02 18:53
The team leader and Tour yellow jersey wearer returning from training and all the specially prepared team food has gone, and there is none left for him, so he has to eat hotel menue food? Please. Do Contador and his management think we are stupid. Teams leave nothing to chance these days. The chances of Contador being left without proper nutrition during the Tour is laughable.