Alberto Contador: Guilty and Not Guilty

Considering Contador: Somehow the CAS determined that there was no evidence of transfusions, though their investigation didn’t even start until 16 months after the positive test—what evidence of transfusions would one expect?
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Alberto Contador: Guilty and Not Guilty
Alberto Contador speaks during a press conference the day after the CAS handed him a two-year ban. (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
Chris Jasurek
2/8/2012
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img class="size-large wp-image-1792164" title="Alberto Contador speaks during a press conference" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/Contador138490510.jpg" alt="Alberto Contador speaks during a press conference" width="590" height="411"/></a>
Alberto Contador speaks during a press conference

The Committee of Arbitration for Sport in a somewhat mystifying ruling gave Spanish Cyclist Alberto Contador a two-year suspension which will only last for six months, and ruled him guilty of ingesting clenbutrol, via a method which no one seems able to definitively identify.

The three-judge CAS panel ruled out contaminated beef, which was the 29-year-old Spaniard’s stated source for the clenbuterol, saying that no one else eating with him had tested positive for the substance.

The other likely source for clenbuterol would be the plastic bags in which blood and plasma are stored. Cyclists are given transfusions of treated blood to elevate their red blood cell counts and transfusions of plasma to thin out the blood. Sometimes clenbuterol from the plastic bags shows up in this blood.