Contador accused by Franke

Robin1982

A LEADING German expert in the fight against doping yesterday claimed to have evidence indicating that Tour de France winner Alberto Contador had used drugs.

Twenty-four hours after the Spaniard donned the winner's yellow jersey on the Champs Elysees, expert Werner Franke described the 24-year-old's victory as "the greatest swindle in sporting history".

Franke bases his claim on documents he says are in his possession from the Spanish police's Operation Puerto inquiry into Eufemiano Fuentes, the doctor said to have masterminded doping programs for athletes.

"The name of this Mr Contador appears on several occasions on the court and police documents," Franke told German television station ZDF.

"All of this has been simply concealed and hidden under the carpet whilst the name Contador was erased from the list of supicious riders."

Franke claims to have a detailed list of banned products used by Contador, which appear in sworn statements following the raid on Fuentes' medical practice.

"He took insulin, HMG-Lepori, a hormone to stimulate the secretion of testosterone and also a product for asthma called TGN - in brief I have before my eyes a protocol for doping," he told ZDF.

"All of this has been covered up, at least in Spain."

Contador, who inherited the lead in the Tour de France last week after Michael Rasmussen's expulsion in a row over missed random drug tests, denied he'd had any links with Fuentes' drugs program.

Speaking after Saturday's penultimate time-trial in Angouleme about why his name had been linked to Fuentes he said: "I was in the wrong team at the wrong time and somehow my name got among the documents, but the UCI corrected the mistake and now I've got no link to Puerto."

Among the cyclists associated with Fuentes was Jan Ullrich, the former Tour de France winner.

In a way, nothing new, but the first I've heard about specific drugs being named to Alpuerto, sorry, Alberto.

cyclopath2001

Robin1982 wrote:

In a way, nothing new, but the first I've heard about specific drugs being named to Alpuerto, sorry, Alberto.

The question should be if he doped during the Tour de France or if his performance benefited from doping in his preparation. The report is unclear about when he might have done it.

Chips Lovell

cyclopath2001 wrote:

The question should be if he doped during the Tour de France or if his performance benefited from doping in his preparation. The report is unclear about when he might have done it.

Actually it's not. In order to ride the Tour, Contador, along with everyone else, had to sign a declaration asserting he wasn't involved in Operation Puerto.

Robin1982

Cycling News wrote:

Iban Mayo tested positive for EPO on the Tour de France's rest day, July 24, it was announced Monday night. His team Saunier Duval was informed of the positive test by the UCI and immediately suspended the Spanish rider.

The 29 year-old finished 16th in the Tour de France, which finished Sunday. He was 27'09" behind winner and compatriot Alberto Contadour (Discovery Channel). The Basque rider was the Spanish team's leader.

"In line with the fight against doping that the team fully support, the rider is immediately suspended until the B sample has been tested," Saunier Duval said on their Web site www.saunierduvalteam.com. "If that is confirmed as positive as well, we will proceed to rescind his contract."

Team manager Josean Fernandez Matxin confirmed the UCI's notification of the positive test on the Tour's second rest day, calling the news a "disagreeable surprise." He told the Europa Press agency that the team is eager to demonstrate that it is clean.

"At no time had he been a suspicious rider, on the contrary," he concluded. "Mayo passed all the UCI controls, all the internal controls, and he had never been suspicious. This has been bad news."

Mayo joined Saunier Duval from the Basque Team Euskatel Euskadi this season. He finished sixth tin the Tour de Frnace in 2003 and won the Dauphine Libere in 2004.

This is the third doping case to arise from the recently concluded Tour de France. Alexander Vinkourov of Team Astana tested positive for blood doping and Christian Moreni (Cofidis) for testosterone. Race leader Michael Rasmussen was pulled out of the race by Team Rabobank for having lied about his whereabouts during training prior to the Tour. Both Astana and Cofidis pulled their teams from the Tour folllowing the positive doping tests.

And the hits just keep on coming.

Ghost Rider

I'm at the point in Kimmage's book where he's pointing out how fine the line is between riders accepting syringe-administered medication and illegal substances. Very interesting stuff...

crashoveroid

What a shock another Rider has been accused of being on the juice now there is a shock. It would be easier just to announce the clean riders

Pherekydes

crashoveroid wrote:

What a shock another Rider has been accused of being on the juice now there is a shock. It would be easier just to announce the clean riders

Now who would believe that list? And how would it be decided?