The UCI has said that it intends to carefully study the decision of the Disciplinary Commission of the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) to clear Alberto Contador, and that it will decide within the next 30 days if it will appeal.
A statement issued a short while ago recognised the clear variation between the original recommendation laid out by the RFEC for a one-year ban, and the final conclusion, which absolved Contador of all guilt and said that he was immediately free to resume competition.
“While acknowledging the differences between the conclusions of the recommendation that had been presented to the rider by the rapporteur of the RFEC Disciplinary Commission [on January 26th] and those expressed in the Commission's decision announced today, the UCI reserves the right to conduct an in-depth study of the reasons behind the decision before expressing its opinion.”
It said that it was awaiting delivery of the full dossier on the case from the RFEC, who will communicate its decision in full. “Once this documentation has been received, the UCI will issue its decision within 30 days,” it stated, referring to the necessity to lodge any appeal within that timeframe.
The World Anti Doping Agency WADA is yet to react to today’s news.
Meanwhile the RFEC’s Competition and Disciplinary Commission has reacted angrily to suggestions that it may have been influenced by outside forces in coming to its decision. It stated that those concerned “cannot fail to express their total rejection of the many statements made….which have called into question the independence and objectivity of this Committee to make a resolution, to the extent that some have not hesitated to attribute the meaning of this resolution to the "political and media pressure" exercised.”
Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero said last week that he believed “there's no legal reason to justify sanctioning Contador." RFEC president Juan Carlos Castano said prior to the hearing that he hoped the rider would be cleared, as he knew him from when he was young.
Both the Spanish Social Democrat Party (PSOE) and Popular Party have also backed Contador’s claims that he didn’t knowingly ingest the substance and should therefore be cleared. Ditto for Angel Juanes, président of the Audiencia Nacional Española, the highest legal court after the supreme court.
The RFEC insists that these had no influence on its decision. “Those comments are so disrespectful that they damage the sensibility and professionalism of the members of this Committee…they question whether the decision is the result of an independent legal analysis and deep reflection, trying to reduce the activity of this Committee to a mere transcriber of views of certain media and politicians, which is simply unacceptable and simply wrong.”
Aside from asserting its independence, the Committee didn’t give other statements on the matter. It has yet to explain how it went from a proposed one year ban to the total clearing of Contador. More details are likely to emerge in time, as well as notification as to whether or not the UCI and WADA will take this further.