Today three time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador, the biggest star in the world of professional bicycle racing, was cleared of doping charges by his home country's Cycling Federation. You are witnessing the death of a sport.
More below the pinstriping.
To recap, after Alberto Contador won his third Tour de France last year, a blood sample taken after a "rest stage" of the tour was tested after the Tour had concluded. It turned up positive for a trace amount of Clenbuterol, a performance enhancing steroid. Contador's defense was that he ate a steak during the rest day (an off day), which was contaminated with the drug, since Clenbuterol has been known to be used on livestock to increase yield (more on this below).
The competition committee of the Spanish Cycling Federation, the federation of Contador's home country, was tasked with investigating, and if necessary, sanctioning the cyclist.
The Spanish Cycling Federation said, as recently as two days ago, that it was set to ban Alberto Contador for one year. Then today, REVERSED the decision, possibly due to a tweet by Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero which questioned the legality of banning him (even though athletes are bound by the rulings of their federation). This would be like Barack Obama tweeting that he believed Barry Bonds should be cleared. I can't make this up.
Now, let's point out some things to see just how ridiculous and corrupt this decision is. Much of this information comes from a report by WADA (World Anti-Doping Authority) that was submitted to the Spanish authorities, and a copy of which was seen by El Pais, one of Spain's largest newspapers.
1. Alberto Contador claims to have eaten a steak, tainted with clenbuterol, on two days (July 20 & 21), specially bought for him in Spain. The first day is a rest day (when the athletes don't race). Even though El Pais says that the report mentions that other cyclists ate the steak, only Contador tested positive.
2. WADA found absolutely no trace of clenbuterol in the meat they tested in Irún, Spain (where the meat was alleged to have been purchased) in either the butcher shop that cut it, or the abattoir that slaughtered it.
3. Clenbuterol has been used in the past to increase muscle-mass and reduce fat in meat. However, because it's illegal, Clenbuterol is rarely used by ranches. And, if you were to use illegal steroids, there are newer, better ones for livestock. Which is why, in an analysis of 300,000 meat samples taken in 2008, the European Union found only a SINGLE sample to be contaminated.
In addition, clenbuterol also makes the meat tougher. If this is a special meal, why wouldn't they buy tender, high-quality meat?
4. There's other damning evidence in the report, but all comes down to WADA concluding that however Contador got the Clenbuterol, animal meat wasn't the reason.
5. And, let's not even talk about reports that the blood sample allegedly also contained a chemical found in transfusion bags, or that rest days are supposedly when cyclists in the Tour get illegal blood transfusions (as stated by Floyd Landis, and several others). If Contador took Clenbuterol back in the winter or spring, and then bagged his own blood and didn't wait long enough for the steroid to exit his system, guess when you would find out? When his blood is taken after a REST DAY.
If Contador wins this year's Tour de France (and he's won two in a row, as he's the fastest climber AND second fastest time trialist), what then?
Yeah, the death of a sport.