While the rider himself has said that he’s still to decide if he is to do the Tour de France, Alberto Contador’s brother and agent Fran has said that he believes the Spaniard will take part.
“I think ultimately he will,” he said in an interview with Radio Marca, adding that for now that the Giro winner “now only focuses on rest, body and mind.”
It was announced yesterday that the rider’s hearing before the Court of Arbitration for Sport will take place between August 1st and 3rd, after the Tour de France. The last remaining obstacle to his participation in the race was then removed when race director Christian Prudhomme said that organisers ASO would not seek to stop him taking part.
Prudhomme regretted the delay and the uncertainty over the rider, but said that he could compete in the race.
While Contador has held back from making an announcement that he would ride the Tour, it was taken for granted that he would do so once the way became clear for him to take part. Fran Contador’s statement is therefore not a surprise.
The Saxo Bank SunGard rider is aiming to be the first since Marco Pantani in 1998 to win both the Giro and the Tour in the same season.
Fran Contador said that his brother would make his final decision soon. He added that the only reason he would bypass the race would be if it became clear to him that his form wasn’t good enough to contend for the victory. The caution arises from the fact that in recent years, many of the riders who fought for the victory in the Giro d’Italia have then struggled in the Tour.
CAS sanction could see disqualification from all results:
Whatever the outcome in France, the UCI said yesterday that if CAS ultimately rules against the rider, that it would seek to have his results since last July removed.
“It's obviously too early to answer this question, as it depends entirely on the CAS decision,” UCI spokesman Enrico Carpanie told Belga. “However, from a strictly regulatory point of view, in the case of a guilty verdict, the UCI has requested disqualification from all results between the day of the positive control and the beginning of the possible penalty. This is on the basis of Article 10.8 of the World Anti-Doping Code and Article 313 of the anti-doping regulations of the UCI.
“CAS will have the option to decide otherwise and the UCI, as always, will be prepared to accept the Tribunal's decision.”
Should that be the case, Contador would lose whatever results he obtains at the 2011 Tour, as well as overall win last year plus his two stage wins and overall victory in the Giro d’Italia. Other results which would be affected are in the Volta ao Algarve (fourth overall), Vuelta a Murcia (first overall, two stage wins), Volta a Catalunya (first overall, one stage win), Vuelta a Castilla y Leon (time trial win), and eleventh in Flèche Wallonne.
Whatever the outcome, the fact that there will be a question mark over the rider during the Tour de France is undoubtedly damaging to the sport. Carpani acknowledged that the situation is not a good one.
"The UCI has taken note of the timetable set and accept it with serenity, even if one realizes that this postponement may be considered by some to be disappointing,” he said.
“We are well aware that for justice, in sport or elsewhere, the technical steps that may seem very long but they constitute an essential guarantee of fairness. In the case of Alberto Contador, his lawyers requested a postponement of hearing to allow time to get to the bottom of the dossier. The other parties (WADA and the UCI) recognized the existence of objective elements in favour of this request and acceded to it.
“Cycling has experienced very difficult situations and this is one. The consequences are never very good. We are waiting to know the definitive resolution of this case, so that the interests of cycling and truth can be established in the context of this appeal to CAS.”