Alberto Contador and the Spanish cycling federation nominated German law professor Ulrich Haas as the judge for Contador's appeal hearing in front of the Courts Sports of Arbitration (CAS). The World Anti-Doping Agency WADA and the International Cycling Federation UCI chose Swiss Quentin Byrne-Sutton. A third judge for the panel will be nominated by CAS within the next two weeks.
Both moves caused surprise in Spain. Haas was on the committee that confirmed the two-year ban for Alejandro Valverde, according to Spanish paper El País. Byrne-Sutton had voted against a world-wide ban of Valverde.
Valverde had appealed against Haas at the time, doubting the independence of the German. The Switzerland-born, who also teaches at the university in Zurich, had already worked for WADA before. Among other things he was working on the current anti doping code. "Either [Contador] is committing suicide or it is a brilliant maneuver," El País quoted a Spanish legal expert.
Haas has been involved in two cases of clenbuterol in sports so far. US swimmer Jessica Hardy was caught on the national trials for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She won an appeal at CAS to reduce her sentence from two years to one. Adam Seroczynski is a Polish canoer, who tested positive during the 2008 Olympics and was banned for two years.
Contador was caught for clenbuterol doping during the 2010 Tour de France. He claimed that the trace amounts found were due to tainted meat. The Spanish federation initially suspended Contador for one year but cleared him after he had submitted more evidence. Both the UCI and WADA have appealed the decision, leading to the showdown at CAS.
Contador is currently racing in the Vuelta a Castilla y León in preparation of the Giro d'Italia. He could miss this year's Tour de France if CAS confirms a suspension - providing the decision is made before July.