Contador says he may give up cycling if he can't clear his name

Why doesn't he just come out and say I have never taken any performance enhancing drugs.
We all want to believe he was a natural talented elite athelete but he was obviously very very scared of Andy Schelck.

@tony_farrelly

I agree that the heroes of previous decades doped, as you say with amphetamines and other means. After all some were were legal and perscribed by doctors, e.g. black bombers.

However within the last 2 decades sports science has greatly improved our understanding of what the human body should be capable of without drugs and how to test for their presence. In the past I contest that it was accecpatble to dope and glossed over. In some ways their ability to cheat was admired.

Just because "eveyone" does it does not mean that it is right or that the playing field is level. Finding someone retrospectively guilty of doping is also a deterant.

It would not take someone like Contador, Lance or Petachi being found positive to truly shake my enjoyment and belief in cycling - for I believe that they have doped and have either been protected for the sake of the sport by the UCI or have been too good at it to be caught.

If Mark Cavendish was found guilty of doping it would truly demolish my enjoyment of profesional cycling.

Cycling is making news for all the wrong reasons again. Test implicates Alberto Contador of doping in 2010 Tour de France has been charged with doping during his 2010 Tour de France victory. He vehemently denied the charges in an emotional appearance at a press event Thurs. Contador could lose his 2010 Tour title and be suspended from competition for two years. He said tainted meat was the source of the banned substance in his urine.

okay Hobett, but pro cyclists have been taking drugs and doing battle with other drugged pro-cyclists since pro-cycling was invented = stuff like amphetamines were legal in cycling until the mid-60s and there's a long, long history of all sorts of other drugs being used to greater or lesser effect since the 1890s.

I doubt many of the heros of the past who doped had any trouble looking the rest of the field in the eye, because they knew full well that the rest of the field were on the gear too and if they weren't they wished they could be. It doesn't make me think any less of them because I judge them in the context of the times they raced in.

The UCI needs to follow the IOC and store the samples. Then those acheivements of the past can be (in)validated and we can properly celebrate the heroes of the past/present and future wihout that itch at the back of our minds.

Cheating should not be accepted in any form. Those that cheat have to put up with knowing they cheated and look the rest of the field, their family and friends and hide it from themselves; dieing a little inside each time.

Cycling as a sport has survived the knocks so far, however these snowballs will gain more momentum and with better drug tests, and the UCI following the IOC's process then it may become an avalanche. Hopefully the drugs won't get better and halt the progress to getting clean cyclists and other atheletes.

Cycling as a sport has always been dirty but then people cheat in every sport in the way that's most appropriate to the sport - in cycling's case that's by taking performance enhancing drugs.

Things may be changing now but up until very recently it seems you didn't get the pay packet or the round the world travel perks if you weren't prepared to use the needle too - it was part of the job, the final sign of commitment, not a short cut. What was cheating to the outside world was simply another medically supervised part of a pro's training regime.

We may only now be entering an era when there are more clean cyclists than dirty ones - does that invalidate all the achievements of legendary riders of the past? Which guys are you in awe of Jon?

Has Contador actually done anything to try to prove his innocence? The story of buying in meat is really feeble and his lack of anything to back it up such as naming the supplier, getting other meat samples analysed isn't very convincing. If my career was at risk I'd be doing anything and everything I could to prove my innocence rather than just mouthing empty words at a press conference.

The whole thing reminds me of when riders were blaming contaminated water passed by supporters back in the old days when now we know they were as high as kites.

Life bans is the only way to go along with criminal and civil action if at all possible.

somebody kick McQuaid out of the sport. We (those of us who love cycling and arent just there for the pay packet and round the world travel perks) want the sport to be clean, we want to be able to watch it and be in awe of the guys and girls who ride through pain and with pride.

Surely thats fairly basic desire...

hmmm - 3 month ban (eye roll..~sigh) + stripping of the TdF title or he gets to keep the title?

Wow, pretty benign penalty if he gets to keep the title and have a pretty relaxed sanction. How about loss of title & 1 yr minimum (ie, next season out) + sanction Astana/Saxo + 5 million Euro fine? Apparently, only guy with any b&lls in the European antidoping scene just retired.

Hey!... UCI!... police this freaking sport!... somebody kick McQuaid in the backside.
~BD

Cycling will survive without Contador, just like it has survived without Ulrich, Landis, Rasmussen and Pantani.

The problem is cycling doesn't seem to get any cleaner, it just gets better doctors.

Looking at the comments of Sylvain Chavanel and Yoann Offredo it looks like there's little sympathy for his predicament.

Is this an IRS/Al Capone moment perhaps?

the thing is, Contador has be involved in these scandals before, to a lot of people he's already dodgy...

My response is "Good"

If they did that the UCI would look ridiculous.

More so than usual.

Just a hint of blackmail then Bertie, 'dont ban me or else'.

Don't worry word is that the UCI are only looking at a ban of 3 months, see you next season!!!

Does he have an explanation as to why there is also traces of plastic in the sample? Or was that in the Capri Sun he washed his tasty spanish steak down with?

No smoke without fire-this has been a long time coming. He's never going to admit it, but it's pretty obvious what's happened-I just hope it doesn't get swept aside a la Armstrong...

and quit cycling? Before or after he gets banned and his title stripped? A lifetime ban is what's needed as a deterrent anyway-I applaud his conviction.

I'm not a fan of Contador, but my feeling is he is innocent in this instance and has been let down by the UCI

Double post... ignore.

What a sob story... if you've done the crime do the time.

Not telling Bjarne Riis only puts loads of other peoples jobs at risk. Very selfish.