Cycling
Sadness after Contador ban
2012-02-06 16:29
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Madrid - Spain's cycling supremo Juan Carlos Castano on Monday voiced his disappointment over a two-year doping ban imposed on Alberto Contador by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Former Spanish Tour de France champions Carlos Sastre and Pedro Delgado were also not amused by the sanction which also includes Contador being stripped of the 2010 Tour title and that from the 2011 Giro d'Italia.
The Spanish federation RFEC had originally not banned Contador for testing positive for clenbuterol at the 2010 Tour as the rider protested his innocence and blamed the result on contaminated meat.
But the CAS, in the high-profile case, upheld an appeal by the world governing cycling body UCI and the World Anti-Doping Agency.
While Contador was yet to comment, Castano was not pleased with the outcome after hoping for positive news.
"It is very sad and disagreeable news for Spanish cycling in particular and for sports in our country generally," he said.
The 2008 Tour winner Sastre and Delgado, a champion at the famous race in 1988, found harsh words for CAS.
Sastre named the sanction "laughable, difficult to understand, it does not have any logic.
"If you have evidence and doping has been proven, you sanction it. But if there is no evidence and it is not proven, you cannot do it."
Delgado said that the presence of clenbuterol warranted a ban, but of one year at most, and questioned how the responsible bodies were tackling the fight against doping.
"Sight is being lost of reality in the fight against doping," said Delgado. "The sport has a problem, no longer with the athletes, but with organs seeking a profile above the sport."
Delgado named the sanction "exaggerated and all the more so, when the tribunal itself admits doping has not been proven.
"If the case had been of a less known cyclist, the sanction would have been lesser."