Talldog

Contador, close to tears, has again protested his innocence, claiming he is a model of drug free cleanliness. It is comical, or maybe pathetic, to see him follow the pattern set by virtually every other drug cheat who has been caught. Please, can just one of them man up and admit they screwed up. He plans to fight the verdict to the end. It's his money I guess. Does he really think the outcome will be reversed ? Does he really think the public believes him. He actually got off easy and there is a good chance WADA will appeal the light sentence. He'll be lucky to just hold on to the one year ban and avoid about $3 or $4 million in fines.

Does he really have the highest V02 max (calculated at 99.5 on the Verbier in 2009) in the history of sport or was something else at work here. Hmmmm, for legal reasons, and IMO, I think there is a lot the UCI and WADA are not saying about AC. There probably is a reason why they are adamant about suspending him and stripping him of the tour title.

JoelS

He would be well served to accept his suspension and serve it in silence, then come back when it's over. By fighting it, he will extend it to many more years and sour everyone that might be willing to have him back after. Look at Basso as an example. He served his time, didn't appeal, and has come back to the top of the sport. Even Ricco is coming back. Then look at Landis who fought tooth and nail, no one will have him back and his career is over.

Bacciagalupe

Millar
Basso, sort of
Hamilton, when busted the 2nd time
Piepoli
Ricco

It isn't common, but it does happen on occasion. I guess fighting gets a little more attention.


I don't think they'd hold back if they had other evidence.

Otherwise this seems largely consistent with how they've treated accused riders, in fact it seems like the Spanish federation went a little easy on him. It's also plausible he expected the UCI to appeal to try and get a longer ban.

Hezz

This scenario seems to offer strong evidence at how delusional top bike racers can become. Me thinks he does protest too much. If AC knows that he is not guilty but no longer trusts the system as he has stated. He has to be a complete imbecile to think that he will get fair treatment and be able to prove that he accidentally ingested the Clenbuterol. The no lower limit rule is not just but as has been pointed out. He is only going to dig himself in further where the system will not accept him back in after his doping ban. Why not cut his losses and save himself the best he can if the system is so broken??

This is the lesson that Floyd Landis learned too late. I think that so many have become so used to cheating and getting away with it that they think the same thing is going to go on again. They think that they will be able to prevail on appeal with weak evidence. Winning an appeal is a pretty rare occurence and shows that most of these guys have become delusional.

DXchulo

Yeah, he really risks turning 1 year into 2 doing this, while his chances of going from 1 to 0 are slim to none.

Has there been an official word on whether he would be allowed to ride the Vuelta this year?

rogwilco

I think it's more sad than funny personally. I have no problem with people like Basso, Ricco, Vino coming back (well, I was pissed about him at LBL, but not anymore), but I honestly never want to see Contador ride again.

eddiepliers 

Here's another Spanish rider that got banned a day after "The accountant" aka AC. And he gets 2 years rather than 1 for AC

https://www.bikeradar.com/news/articl...d-garcia-29096

mbabiker

He'd be better off taking his lumps...work on pr and hopefully somehow resurrect his career.

rogwilco

David Extebarria makes a good point on twitter, saying that Contador only won his first Tour de France thanks to that doping test system he "doesn't believe in anymore" when Rasmussen was kicked out in 2007 without even having tested positive. I don't remember Contador taking Rasmussen's side there in what he must have thought was a horrible injustice, eh?...