Thursday 30 September 2010

The Contador Conundrum

After more than two months that the Tour de France finished with Alberto Contador as a 3-time winner of the event, comes the news that he tested positive in an antidoping test. The banned substance clenbuterol was found in his sample.

Now, my question is: why after all this time? I'm not a big follower of cycling but I can sense that there's something wrong here. The system is slow and unjust and the players cheat as they please. But even if this was all true, why come out with this now? Are they gonna take his triumph away because of this?

I'm thinking hard if any other sport would have it that way. Can we go back to the World Cup final and give De Jong that red card he deserved for the karate kick, or shall we take away Italy's title in 2006 because of that shady penalty against Australia, or Argentina be stripped of their second star because of the Hand of God? Or what about taking Michael Schumacher's title in 1994 because we later decided he DID crash into Damon Hill? Again, I haven't been a big follower of cycling but this is not going to help to its cause either.

I have to agree with Contador here (the alleged cheat) that if it was a straight-forward case of doping then he would have been suspended then and there and would not have finished the tour. But it seems that is a bit too complicated for that. How long does it take to determine if it is "OK dopping" or not? More than two months, it seems.

Whatever it is, sort it out UCI!