Alberto Contador pled his innocence on the final day of the three-time Tour de France champion’s Court of Arbitration hearing – but a ruling will not be delivered until January.
- Alberto Contador finished fifth in the 2011 Tour de France
Contador tested positive for clenbuterol found in a urine test from the second rest day of the 2010 Tour de France.
The Spaniard, who has argued the minute traces come from contaminated beef, was cleared by a Spanish cycling federation tribunal last February but faces losing his 2010 Tour and 2011 Giro d’Italia titles if Cas upholds the UCI and World Anti-Doping Authority’s appeal.
The 28-year-old, who finished fifth in this year’s edition of the Tour, gave a final emotional plea to the three-man panel at the end of the four-day heading.
“He spoke for about 15 minutes,” said Cas secretary general Matthieu Reeb after Contador left court. “He took the case very seriously. He was present for all the case and attended all the discussions.”
Contador refused to speak to the media after the hearing and instead got into a waiting taxi.
More than 20 witnesses have been called during the hearing, including the butcher who reportedly sold the contaminated steak to a friend of Contador and former team-mates Benjamin Noval and Paolo Tiralongo, who rode for Astana at the same time as Contador.
Witnesses called by WADA and the UCI include Australian scientist Michael Ashenden, to analyse Contador’s biological passport.
Reeb said the three-man panel would need “six to eight weeks” to deliver a verdict, although either party can then appeal at Switzerland’s supreme court “on procedural and formal issues, but it will not review the merits of the case.”
