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What are you going to do if Bertie's actually cleared?
I'll be having a nice Spanish steak to celebrate and asking Bertie for the lottery numbers.
My understanding of the situation is that you can be let off without sanction if you can provide definitive proof that ingestion was accidental. The Spanish federation appears to have interpreted "definitive proof" as "able to come up with a good story".
The issue with the Contador case is that there are other cases of Clenbuterol positives that have not seen sanction from national bodies, and which have not been pursued further by WADA.
Far from supporting his case, the fact WADA haven't pursued others but are pursuing him tells you all you need to know about how they view the strength of his case.
OK, so here are some questions I'd be asking if I were his lawyer:-
The amount detected was 400times lower than the required lowest detectable level. If most labs / assays can only detect a higher level how has this test been validated?
What is the half life of the substance? If it's such a low urine/blood concentration than its likely to have been either a tiny amount he ingested (which would support contamination) or it's been in his system for ages - at which point could another test have picked it up previously.
The problem is as assays get more accurate - the results become harder to interpret. For instance who would want to be fired from work if they did random drug testing and found cocaine in your system from a dollar bill you touched two weeks ago? This is pretty much his argument (not about cocaine mind....).
But, as I said, I'm jet lagged and it's been a long time since I worked as a pharmacokineticist.
I reckon they're waiting for the plasticiser test to be validated so they can shaft him good an proper 🙂
Clubber, you are right in the way you modified my analogy.
The plasticiser test is a major breakthough if it is validated.
The amount detected was 400times lower than the required lowest detectable level.
40 times lower. The original press release was wrong.
So, about Andy Schleck. Was it a mistake for him to say when interviewed: "It is not if we will win the tour, but how"?
I think the reason wada and the UCI are after contador is the plasticisers he tested positive for - not an accredited test but and official one - so while he can't be sanctioned just for the plasticisers it is a part of the case.
I believe the sequence went like this
Contador uses clenbuterol in out of season training. waits until its undetectable, taps a pint or two of blood. transfuses this blood back in during the TDF for a boost, new more sensitive test finds the previously undetectable trace of clenbuterol.
So Contador was not using the clenbuterol during the tour but in training - he was however blood doping during the tour
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/plasticisers-in-contadors-urine-could-indicate-blood-transfusion
he was however blood doping during the tour
Oh you've proven this beyond all reasonable doubt, have you?
Ok then.
CASE CLOSED!
Elf - read the links and read what I said
I believe
Thats why WADA and UCI are after him and why he is trying to avoid the court.