No Contador decision till mid-January, but that won't be the end of it

The President of the Spanish cycling federation, the RFEC, has said that no decision is expected in the Alberto Contador doping case until mid-January at the earliest, and that he expects the decision, whatever it is, to be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The anti-doping committee of the RFEC is currently deliberating on Contador’s case but the organisation’s President Juan Carlos Xastano – not one of the four people tasked with reaching a decision – told Spanish sports newspaper AS, "I do not expect an outcome before mid-January."

As reported by The Guardian, Xastano doesn’t expect the case to be concluded even once the RFEC makes its decision known. "The case is likely to end up before the Court of Arbitration for Sport because none of the parties involved will be satisfied [with the outcome].

“It is not a straightforward case and it calls for comprehensive investigation."
Contador insists that his positive test for minute traces of clenbuterol during this year’s Tour de France, which he won, resulted from his having eaten a contaminated steak, and at the moment is preparing for the 2011 season following his move from Astana to Team Saxo Bank.

Meanwhile, tennis world number one Rafael Nadal, last night named BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year, has said that he is hopeful of a speedy resolution to the Contador case to prevent “tremendous damage” from being done to all sports.

Speaking on Spanish radio, Nadal said, “all of this is horrible for other (athletes),” and singled out cycling as the worst sport for doping because “cases arise constantly,” reports Yahoo! Sports.

That may be the case, but cycling authorities would point to the sheer number of doping cases as evidence that the sport is determined to combat doping. Dr Eufemiano Fuentes, the man at the centre of the Operacion Puerto doping scandal, insisted at the time that his client list included footballers and tennis players, although no names have ever been released.

Nadal added: “it is tremendous the amount of damage this causes sport and the doubt it casts over other athletes.”