Team Saxo Bank boss, Bjarne Riis explained that his new star rider Alberto Contador is paying for his doping defence on his own. The Spaniard faces a legal battle in his home country due to a positive test for Clenbuterol at the Tour de France.
"How could I financially be able to support the case? I can not see how," Riis told Danish news agency, Ritzau.
"I do not have much to offer, other than I can support him. It is not me who leads the case, there others."
Riis signed the three-time Tour de France on August 3 to replace out-going stars Fränk and Andy Schleck. However, the International Cycling Union (UCI) informed Contador on August 24 that he tested positive for Clenbuterol on July 21, the second rest day at the Tour de France.
Contador announced the positive control on September 30, two months after he won the Tour de France by 39 seconds ahead of Luxembourg's Andy Schleck. The UCI announced that same day that it provisionally suspended and earlier this month, asked the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) to open a disciplinary hearing.
Clenbuterol helps breathing and weight loss. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) lists it, at any level, as a banned substance. Contador's urine sample revealed 50 picograms or 0.000 000 000 05 grams per millilitre.
Contador maintains his innocence and says that the drug came from eating a contaminated steak that his Astana team bought from the Spanish city of Irún. Clenbuterol produces lean beef, but European Union has banned its use since 1996. It controlled 83,203 animal samples in Europe between 2008 and 2009 and only sample was contaminated, and it was not from Spain.
He now faces an investigation led by Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC), growing legal fees and a likely two-year suspension. He hired Swiss lawyer Rocco Taminelli to support his contaminated steak defence. Taminelli recently helped Italian Franco Pellizotti successfully defend himself against a two-year doping ban.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report that the UCI gave the RFEC, however, reportedly debunked Contador's contaminated steak defence.
"I have not seen it myself, but I do not think it is clear in one way or another," added Riis. "So, I am still hesitant about it."
Riis will meet with Contador and the rest of his team this Sunday in on the Spanish Canary Island of Fuerteventura for Saxo Bank's first training camp.