PARIS, Feb 5, 2012 (AFP) – The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) are due
to announce on Monday a verdict on three-time Tour de France winner Alberto
Contador’s doping case, bringing to an end a succession of delays.
A verdict was initially set for mid-January, but the Lausanne-based CAS
opted to delay the ruling, blaming the delay on media allegations of bias
against the three-man arbitration panel.
Contador tested positive for the banned anabolic agent clenbuterol during
the 2010 Tour de France, but the Spaniard was cleared by the Spanish Cycling
Federation (RFEC) in February 2011, prompting the World Anti-Doping Agency
(WADA) and International Cycling Union (UCI) to appeal the decision to CAS.
The 29-year-old Spaniard claimed he had ingested the banned substance by
eating a contaminated steak, an explanation which satisfied the RFEC but which
failed to pass muster with the International Cycling Union (UCI) and World
Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
If CAS upholds the appeal the Spaniard faces a competition ban and being
stripped of his 2010 Tour de France title and the Giro d’Italia, which he won
for a second time last year, and any other victories since July 2010.