Alberto_Contador_in_time_trial_Tour_de_France_July_2010February 17 - Pat McQuaid, the President of cycling's world governing body, the UCI, has refused to comment on the decision to clear Spain's Tour de France champion Alberto Contador of doping and claimed that he will not make any judgement until the case is closed, which could drag on for several months if it is taken to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).


Contador was cleared by the Royal Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) after testing positive for the banned substance Clenbuterol at last year's Tour de France.

The RFEC's Disciplinary Committee last month proposed a one-year suspension but the Spaniard, who has always maintained his innocence, claiming the substance was in some contaminated meat, appealed against that and has now had that ban lifted.

But the UCI and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) both have the right to appeal themselves against that decision, in which case the CAS will rule.

"I can't - and don't want to - give a personal opinion until the whole affair is finished, and it's not finished yet," said McQuaid (pictured with Contador).

Alberto_Contador_with_Pat_McQuaid

"We still have to get the documents from the Spanish federation about their decision not to sanction Contador translated, and then we'll discuss it with WADA.

"We're yet to receive the full documentation, but once we get that we'll have 30 days to decide whether we appeal or not."

If the UCI or WADA appeal then it could be several months before the CAS hears the case, which would overshadow this year's Tour de France, which is due to start on July 2.

"I would hope, and be fairly confident, that it will all be sorted out before the Tour - that we can go to CAS and CAS will understand that we need this [ruling] relatively quickly," said McQuaid, who is also a member of the International Olympic Committee.

"It is still possible that we might not appeal.

"We have to wait and see the full dossier.

"We've just seen 35 pages - not the full dossier.

"We have also seen the reasoning of the [RFEC] committee, which had decided to originally hand out a one-year ban to Contador.

"But what we still haven't yet seen is everything that's been supplied by Contador's people in the second period, so to speak."


Related stories
January 2011: Contador facing one year doping ban
October 2010: Small amount doesn't mean Contador wasn't cheating says drugs chief
September 2010: Tour de France winner tests positive for anabolic steroids