Nick Wright previews this weekend's clash between York City Knights and Hull FC
Alex Reid looks at whether the once ever-present appearance of English clubs in the later stages of the Champions League is set to become a thing of the past
Craig Dobson looks at QPR's decision to sack Neil Warnock and replace him with Mark Hughes
James Tompkinson reviews an excellent pre-season victory for the York City Knights against Yorkshire rivals Leeds Rhinos
Contador won the race for the third time last July, beating Andy Schleck by less than a minute after over 90 hours of racing. It was announced in September that he had failed a drugs test on one of the tour’s rest days.
Although Contador remains the champion of the 2010 race, the option remains to disqualify the Spaniard, which would hand Schleck the win.
Contador, who claims he has been a victim of food contamination, has said he will appeal any ban passed down to him. There is some support for his case: the amount of the banned drug was 50 times less than what is required to be detected by a World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) approved lab. This would be unlikely to have a decisive effect on his performance and as a result it suggests it was not there from doping.
If the appeal succeeds then both the WADA and cycling’s governing body the UCI can challenge the ban in the Court for Arbitration for Sport. As a result, it will be a long time before this saga ends.
Despite moves by the UCI, the sport is still considered one of the worst for doping. In 2006, an investigation by the Spanish police called operation Puerto revealed a large scale doping network run by Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes. The investigation involved some of the biggest names in professional cycling, including Jan Ullrich, Frank Schleck, Ivan Basso, Alejandro Valverde and Contador. With exception to Basso, no charges were brought against these athletes.
Later that year the winner of the Tour de France Floyd Landis tested positive for testosterone during the tour. He was banned for two years and disqualified from the tour.
The next year things got no better for cycling, with pre-tour favourite Alexander Vinokourov testing positive for an illegal blood transfusion during the tour and the then leader Michael Rasmussen being sacked by his team due to missing out of competition drugs tests.
Seven time Tour winner Lance Armstrong has repeatedly been accused of doping. However these allegations have not been proved and Armstrong has never had a test come back positive.
Despite the best efforts of the UCI and the WADA, cycling remains one of the dirtiest sports for doping and it will be a long time before it becomes one of the cleaner ones.
You must log in to submit a comment.
