(Contador blames bad meat for positive doping test, Ciaran Giles and John Leicester, AP via ChronBlog Sports)
Three-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador blamed contaminated steak for his positive doping test, vowing Thursday to clear his name so that cycling's latest drug scandal doesn't "destroy everything that I have done."
The Spanish rider was provisionally suspended after a World Anti-Doping Agency lab in Germany found a "very small concentration" of the banned substance clenbuterol in his urine sample on July 21 at the Tour, according the International Cycling Union, the sport's governing body.
Amazingly, unlike overtrained athlete's syndrome, there is some scientific evidence that this type of drug contamination is possible.
However, the hurdle that Contador must still climb is why none of his teammates tested positive for the same substance. Especially Alexsander Vinikorov, who was coming back from a drug ban and is, behind Lance Armstrong, one of the most tested riders in the peleton.
When evaluating drug cheat accusations the simplest explenation is often the most likely.....they took the drug. That's why so many suspensions are upheld upon appeal.
Even Floyd Landis, who had some solid science behind him explaining his reults, turned out to be a drug cheat. Will Contador? Time will tell, but don't be surprised if his Tour win is vacated in the near future.
