Lawyers Use Cocaine Defense in Alberto Contador Doping Case

Alberto Contador's lawyers are using tennis player Richard Gasquet's successful appeal against cocaine use as part of their own defense for a failed Tour de France doping test.

Earlier today Alberto Contador's lawyer Andy Ramos said a decision in cycling's biggest case could come "any day" as the Spanish cycling federation's disciplinary committee determines whether Contador merits a two-year ban after testing positive for clenbuterol.

The three-time Tour de France champion's defense is he ingested the muscle-building, weight-loss steroid inadvertently through contaminated meat.

Contador's lawyers are using several cases relating to other athletes to highlight that Contador did not voluntarily take the steroid. He will also lose his Tour title if he is found guilty.

French player Gasquet avoided a lengthy ban last year after proving he inadvertently ingested cocaine after kissing a woman at a nightclub.

"Not one of the scientists we have worked with has said it couldn't have been anything but contamination," Ramos commented in a telephone interview. "The levels are ridiculous - it couldn't be anything else."

Contador's lawyers are also using the case of Dimitrij Ovtcharov, who was cleared of doping by the German table tennis federation in October. The Ukrainian-born Ovtcharov successfully argued that tainted meat consumed in China was the reason for his positive test for clenbuterol.

Ovtcharov turned up an "extremely low" concentration of 75 picograms per milliliter in his sample compared to 50 picograms for Contador. A picogram is one trillionth of a gram.

The World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Tennis Federation attempt to ban Gasquet for two years was overturned after the Court for Arbitration for Sport accepted his claim that he inadvertently consumed cocaine by kissing the woman in a Miami club hours after withdrawing injured from a tournament last year.

Gasquet did not deny cocaine was in his system but proved it was not intentionally taken while showing no negligence on his own part. He served a 2½-month suspension.
Contador is at the Playitas in Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, training with his Saxo Bank-SunGard team, which is preparing for the 2011 season. Contador also won the Tour de France in 2007 and 2009.

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