Sidelined from competition ever since he tested positive during the Tour de France, Frank Schleck faces a further wait before he finds out the repercussions of that test. The RadioShack Nissan rider yesterday appeared before the Disciplinary Committee of the ALAD (Agence Luxembourgeoise Antidopage/Luxembourg Anti-Doping Agency) and spoke for three hours.
Afterwards, he said that he was pleased with how things went. “I would first like to thank the ALAD. It gave my witnesses the opportunity to testify. We gave our extensive dossier we had given a week ago and now we have to give the appropriate authorities the necessary time to reach a verdict,” he told Wort.lu.
“I am very happy and I have a good feeling. We put a lot of time and energy into preparing our defence. I have every confidence that the disciplinary commission will come to the correct result after our statements.”
Schleck was accompanied by team-mate Maxime Monfort, who said that he was there to “help a friend.” The Luxembourg rider failed a test for the banned diuretic Xipamide after giving a sample on July 14th. Initially he suggested that a third party may have been at fault. “If this analysis confirm the initial result, complaints will be filed against an unknown person for poisoning,” he stated then.
It was unclear if the claim of poisoning would relate to a deliberate act of sabotage, or the contamination of a supplement.
However when the B sample result came back on July 20th and confirmed the initial reading, he had changed tack. “We are analysing, minute by minute, what exactly I have been doing, eating, drinking on the days before the control and on the 14th of July itself, whom I met, what materials I came in contact with, what nutritional supplements I took."
It is not yet known what arguments he raised yesterday. He faces a sanction ranging from a warning to a two year ban, with the final decision to be expected soon.