Alberto Contador: Guilty Until Proven Innocent?

Spain's ace cyclist Alberto Contador is once again in the spotlight. Earlier this year he won his third Tour de France, the Holy Grail of road cycling. However, this time he is in media headlines for something less palatable... he has been found with a banned substance in his bloodstream. The tested samples were taken during the actual race. Unfortunately some people are calling for his blood, literally, before the full facts are known. Trial by innuendo, privately or in the press, is not justice and never has been. If proven to be a dope cheat, by an appropriate body, then and only then, should the floggings and lynchings begin! Until then, Contador continues to vigorously maintain his innocence and hide in his grandmother's garage.

The Current Facts:

1. Alberto Contador was declared winner of the the 2010 Tour de France.
2. He tested positive for clenbuterol.
   
3. This substance is banned by the International Cycling Union.
   
4. This has been confirmed by both the A and B tests.
5. The samples were taken in Pau, on July 21 2010, a rest day.
6. Traces of plastic were also found in the samples, suggesting that Contador had received a banned blood transfusion.

The Anomalies:

1. Contador was tested rigorously throughout the entire Tour.
2. This positive test is apparently the only one displaying any blood abnormality.
3. The trace element of the drug found was the extraordinarily low amount of 0.000 000 000 05 grams per millimeter (50 picograms).
   
4. This 400 times less than the minimum volume a World Anti-Doping Agency or UCI accredited tester must be able to detect to formulate a sound analysis.
5. Contador has blamed tainted meat, flown in from Spain for his Astana team, for the trace of clenbuterol.

Because of the delicate nature of this controversy we all need to be patient and wait until all the testing is complete and results in. I truly hope that Contador is innocent because neither he or the Tour need this bad publicity right now. Of course, like Floyd Landis, Contador will be stripped of his Tour win if found guilty. Cycling, and especially the Tour de France, has also been surrounded by dope scandals, with some suggesting that the Tour cannot be won without doping. This, of course, is ridiculous; if nobody doped, then the winner would be clean.