Contador strengthens defence team in clenbuterol case
- Wednesday, 10 November 2010
- 4 Comments
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Alberto Contador's bid to clear his name in the clenbuterol case has led him to hire Swiss lawyer, Rocco Taminelli, who successfully defended Franco Pellizotti in his appeal against a suspension for alleged irregularities in his biological passport.
Pellizotti was suspended by cycling's governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), and Italian anti-doping prosecutor Ettore Torri had asked for the Liquigas rider to be suspended for two years.
However, the case was thrown out by Italy's anti-doping committee, a verdict which has caused questions to be asked about the validity of the biological passport in the war on doping.
Contador's decision to contract Pellizotti's lawyer could indicate that he is expecting the case finally to be resolved in the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.
In other developments, it has also been confirmed that Contador's management have now received the receipt for the steak which the Spaniard alleges contained traces of clenbuterol. The receipt was apparently found amongst Astana's expenses accounts for the Tour de France.
The meat was purchased in Irun, a town on Spain's northern frontier, by a friend of Contador's, race organiser Jose Luis Lopez Cerron, who then presumably handed the receipt over to Astana. Contador says he ate the meat on the second rest day.
Cycling Weekly also understands that the documents received by the Spanish Federation about the Contador case principally focus on the Spaniard's defence, more specifically that the clenbuterol positive arose because he ate contaminated meat.
The Spanish Federation's president Juan Carlos Castaño, who does not form part of the four-man disciplinary panel reviewing the material, has said that the case will be treated objectively, although on a personal level apparently he hopes it is resolved Contador's favour.
Castaño also told Spanish newspaper AS on Wednesday that the case could take up to two months for a verdict to be reached. If so, it would contravene the usual maximum time limit permitted in doping cases, which is a month.
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Reader comments
Add your commentsNovember 10 12:00
Rob
Found the receipt my foot. Surely no one is really that gullible?
November 10 12:25
JG Harrow
So, this guy buys Contador a steak as a present, but then decides to give Astana the receipt for it? What were they going to do with this, claim it back as an expense? But they didn't buy it, so that's fraudulent no? Yet another thread to this story that just doesn't add up.
Neither does it take that long to find a receipt - not when the career of one of Spain's 'greatest' sportsmen hangs in the balance.
And what does this prove anyway? Why haven't they traced the meat supplier and then the farmer and investigated them for adding Clenbuterol to their cattle feed? Still no mention of that.
This whole thing stinks. The worse thing is, he's probably going to get away with it.
November 10 12:44
Colnago dave
Having at "last minute.com" the elusive receipt I wonder how the Contador team is going to prove that he actually ate it, or is his defense team going to produce some excrement labeled as Albertos from that date for DNA.?
November 10 13:43
Neil
Quote "Castaño also told Spanish newspaper AS on Wednesday that the case could take up to two months for a verdict to be reached. If so, it would contravene the usual maximum time limit permitted in doping cases, which is a month"
Funny how it never feels like a case lasts only a month before a definitive answer does it?..........