Days after UCI management committee member Peder Pedersen said that he believed that Alberto Contador would get a two year ban, Contador’s team manager Bjarne Riis has responded and said that the comments were unfair.
“There's too much speculation, let's see some facts now - it's about time to see facts,” he told Wide World of Sports prior to Tuesday’s first stage of the Santos Tour Down Under.
“I'm not going to comment on speculation - to respect the case as it is, it's not a good thing to comment as he (Pedersen) is. There is a process that has to be done and that has to be respected by everybody.”
Contador tested positive for Clenbuterol en route to victory in this year’s Tour de France. He has denied doping and said that he believed the substance got into his system via contaminated meat.
The UCI requested disciplinary action from the Spanish cycling federation RFEC in November. It is currently waiting for the UCI to clarify some technical points, and a decision is expected next month.
Pedersen was the first member of the UCI to comment on how he believed the case would turn out. Presumably speaking in a personal capacity, he predicted at the weekend that the maximum ban would be applied. “The information we [the UCI] has right now suggests that he has committed an offence triggering a sentence of two years. So I don’t think he will race the Tour de France this summer,” he said on a programme on TV2 Fyn.
He declined to elaborate further on that.
Contador signed for Riis’ Saxo Bank-Sungard team after three years with Astana. Apart from the contested Tour title, he has won two previous editions of the race as well as the Vuelta a España and Giro d’Italia.
He is currently training in advance of the season, hoping to return to racing sooner rather than later.