LAUSANNE, Switzerland (BRAIN) Feb 6, 12:28 MT—Sport's highest court on Monday announced that Alberto Contador has been found guilty of doping at the 2010 Tour de France. The Court of Arbitration for Sport stripped Contador of his win at that Tour, nullified his 2011 results, and suspended Contador for two years — backdated so that he will be able to compete again after Aug. 6.
The court rejected Contador's defense that contaminated food had caused him to test positive for minuscule amounts of the banned substance clenbuterol. A similar defense had worked for other athletes recently, but those athletes had eaten food from Mexico or China, where clenbuterol contamination is a known problem.
“Unlike certain other countries, notably outside Europe, Spain is not known to have a contamination problem with clenbuterol in meat,” CAS said. “Furthermore, no other cases of athletes having tested positive to clenbuterol allegedly in connection with the consumption of Spanish meat are known.”
Contador is expected to hold a news conference Tuesday. He is only the second Tour champion to be stripped of victory for doping, following the nullification of Floyd Landis' 2006 title.
