Alberto Contador’s assertion that a tainted meat sample caused his positive test for Clenbuterol in this year’s Tour de France looks set to be put to an additional test, following the news that Spain’s main association of beef cattle producers (ASOPROVAC) has called for an investigation.
Contador’s claim has already been examined by WADA and, according to a recent article in El Pais, the World Anti Doping Agency concluded that there was little likelihood that food was the source of the chemical.
Contador has insisted otherwise, and in recent days farmer and former pro rider Ramón Riestra, a board member of Asturias’ youth farmers association, said Spain and other European countries import meat from South America. He suggested that the meat Contador consumed could have originated from a Mercosur country, where Clenbuterol use is less controlled.
"It's more than possible," Riestra told Spain's AS newspaper. "Look, one of the ports where most of this meat is unloaded is Saint-Jean-de-Luz [France], a French city that's very close to Irún [15 kilometres]. It's not strange that some butcher shop in Irún provided this meat."
However that assertion looks set to be challenged by ASOPROVAC. In a statement reported on by AFP, it said that it requested public prosecutors to open “a probe to clarify the possible truthfulness of the facts told by Alberto Contador.
“Given that the cyclist has not made a formal complaint against public institutions -- the only way to trigger an official investigation that would definitively clear up this affair once and for all -- the association has decided to put the case in the hands of public prosecutor."
The Spanish meat industry is conscious that claims of contamination by substances such as Clenbuterol is damaging to its image and the consumers’ confidence in its products.
Last month, the Basque Regional Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development categorically denied that meat products from the region could have led to his positive test for Clenbuterol.
The positive result from a doping control taken on the second rest day of this year’s Tour means that Contador risks losing his third Tour title. He could also face a suspension from the sport. The Spanish cycling federation (RFEC) has been asked to open disciplinary proceedings against the 27 year old, and is normally expected to reach a decision within a month.
Contador is due to begin racing with the Saxo Bank-SunGard team in 2011 but, even if he avoids sanction, is likely to face a disrupted racing schedule. Any decision by the RFEC to clear him can be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Conversely, if he is sanctioned, he is entitled to appeal that decision to CAS.