Having twice been delayed, the Alberto Contador appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport will finally be held in just under three months time. CAS announced the new dates on its website today, giving notice of when the long-awaited matter would come before legal experts.
“In the arbitration between the International Cycling Union (UCI) & World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and Alberto Contador & the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC), the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has fixed the hearing dates on 21-24 November 2011,” it confirmed.
The triple Tour de France winner tested positive during last year’s race, with a sample taken on the second rest day revealing traces of the banned substance Clenbuterol. He denied knowingly taken the product and claims that it entered his system via tainted steak bought in Spain and consumed at the team hotel.
Such contamination is known to take place in South America and Asia, but statistically is very rare in Europe.
Despite that, the Spanish federation RFEC accepted Contador’s explanation as the quantities were so small and it originally proposed a one-year ban. After further presentations by Contador’s defence, the rider was eventually cleared to race in time for the Volta ao Algarve.
The UCI and WADA both appealed the verdict to CAS, although the UCI took the full thirty-day period allowed to do so, and the hearing was originally scheduled for June, before the start of the Tour de France. This original timeframe would have given a definitive answer before the race.
However this appeal was put back to early August after a request from Contador’s defence team, which said that one of his legal team could not make the dates requested. He was duly able to start the Tour de France, and he went on to place fifth in that event.
The rescheduled hearing was due to be held between August 1st and 3rd. However it too was postponed to allow for a “second exchange of written submissions” between the three parties involved. According to CAS, the request was “formulated by WADA with the unanimous agreement of the three other parties.”
The hearing will now finally take place, an unprecedented sixteen months after the positive sample was taken at the Tour de France.