Doping

What does the passport do? How does it work? What are its limitations? Can athletes manipulate it?

Alberto Contador strongly defended himself against claims that his clenbuterol positive was triggered by a possible blood transfusion during the 2010 Tour de France.

GENEVA (AFP) - The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Tuesday banned Italian cyclist Franco Pellizotti, third in the 2009 Giro d'Italia, for two years, overturning an earlier ruling by Italy's anti-doping committee.

MURCIA, Spain (VN) – A huge smile creased across the typically somber face of Bjarne Riis when Alberto Contador celebrated his first victory of 2011 at the Vuelta a Murcia by pointing proudly at his Saxo Bank-Sungard jersey.

SAN PEDRO DEL PINATAR, Spain (VN) – Alberto Contador started Friday’s first stage at the Vuelta a Murcia with modest hopes of winning on the bike while his legal team is expanding for the looming battle off the bike.

MURCIA, Spain (VN) – Alberto Contador headlines the field at the three-day Vuelta a Murcia in what will be his second race since he was cleared by the Spanish cycling federation to return to racing.

MADRID, Spain (AFP) - Tour de France winner Alberto Contador in an interview published Wednesday vowed to fight any attempt to re-impose doping sanctions.

Arriagada tested positive during the Tour of Chile, a race he has won three times, in February. According to press reports the 35-year-old's sample tested positive for anabolic steroids. "The federation told me the news and now I have to discuss it with my lawyers," Arriagada told the website of Chilean daily El Mercurio from the Dominican Republic. He will be returning immediately "to undergo the necessary tests and prove my innocence," he added. Arriagada won three of the 10 stages on the last edition of the Tour of Chile and is a four-time national time trial champion.

Alberto Contador is already a pretty good time trialist, but his new boss at Saxo Bank-Sungard said changes in his TT position could take the Tour de France winner up another notch.

Xavier Tondo is sleeping at 2,300 meters this week in Spain’s high-altitude training facility in the Sierra Nevada mountains, but he probably wishes he could even be further away from the spotlight after a wild week that saw him “outed” as the source in Spain’s latest doping investigation.

“Just being here is a victory,” said Alberto Contador after finishing fourth overall in the Volta ao Algarve.

ALBUFEIRA, Portugal (VN) – There are not that many fans that come to watch the five-day Volta ao Algarve, but a good-sized crowd waited outside the Saxo Bank-Sungard team bus Saturday morning to catch a glimpse of Alberto Contador.

Vacansoleil declares that it has no choice but to fire cycling's most obnoxious doper

The Spanish cycling community is clamoring for the introduction of a minimum threshold for clenbuterol in the wake of the highly divisive doping case involving star rider Alberto Contador.

Despite the swelling negative public opinion over the Alberto Contador acquittal Tuesday in Spain, Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) is taking a wait-and-see approach.

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When Armstrong announced his comeback in 2008, he mentioned a repeat performance — of Tour victory, not as the guy on the receiving end of doping questions.

There is more news on the doping front in Spain with a former doctor of the now-defunct Xacobeo-Galicia team set to take charges against the team to a Spanish court.

The major tours will wait on the sidelines to see how the Alberto Contador doping case plays out.

While fans and media celebrated Alberto Contador’s apparent victory in his ongoing doping scandal, reactions were strikingly more negative north of the Pyrénées.

Alberto Contador plans on racing full-bore as he enters a nervous waiting game to see if international governing bodies will appeal the Spanish cycling federation’s dramatic decision to clear him of doping charges

After the Alberto Contador ruling, readers offer up a number of interesting questions

World cycling chief Pat McQuaid said Wednesday that he wants a definitive decision in the doping case of Alberto Contador before the start of the Tour de France in July.

Soon after being cleared of doping charges by the Spanish federation, Alberto Contador is expected to travel to Portugal to arrive in time for Wednesday’s start the Volta ao Algarve.

Alberto Contador says he’s “happy and relieved” about the dramatic reversal from the Spanish cycling federation to clear him from doping charges.

The UCI on Tuesday said it had received notice of the Spanish cycling federation's decision to clear Alberto Contador of doping charges, and said it would examine the reasoning behind the decision before announcing its next step. The UCI has 30 days to decide whether to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

It’s official: the Spanish cycling federation has cleared Alberto Contador of doping charges in a dramatic U-turn in his ongoing case of alleged use of clenbuterol.

LONDON (AFP) - British cycling's Team Sky may relax its "zero tolerance" doping policy as they seek to hire staff capable of improving the outfit's performance, it was reported Tuesday.

Riccardo Riccò remains in an Italian hospital more than a week after being hospitalized for an apparent blood transfusion gone wrong.

The Spanish sports daily AS is reporting that Spanish authorities on Tuesday will clear Alberto Contador of doping allegations stemming from a positive test at last year’s Tour de France.

MADRID, Spain (VN) – Spanish politicians are rallying around Alberto Contador on the eve of a long-awaited final verdict on his ongoing doping case that could come as soon as Tuesday.

Spain's cycling federation, the RFEC, may clear three-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador of using performance-enhancing drugs, Spanish newspapers said on Monday.

Vacansoleil has suspended controversial Italian rider Riccardo Riccò, who was hospitalized earlier this week after an apparent botched blood transfusion.

A "disgusted" Alberto Contador hit out at the Spanish cycling federation, which he accused of “caving in” to pressure from anti-doping authorities after it proposed he serve a one-year ban from cycling.

Manolo Saíz, the controversial Spanish team manager caught up in the Operación Puerto doping scandal of 2006, is plotting his return to the elite pro ranks.

Alberto Contador recounted key moments in the hours and days following news that he tested positive for clenbuterol during this year’s Tour de France and vigorously denied allegations that the banned substance might have entered his body via blood transfusions.

Disgraced Spanish cyclist Alejandro Valverde has been out training with his Movistar teammates in Majorca while he serves a ban for doping.

No, this isn’t an April Fool’s story: Alberto Contador has stopped eating beef since he tested positive for traces in clenbuterol in July’s Tour de France.

Italian cyclist Lorenzo Bernucci, a former teammate of ace sprinter Alessandro Petacchi, was slapped with a five-year ban on Tuesday by the Italian Olympic committee (CONI), while four members of his family also received bans for their involvement in a doping ring.

A newspaper reports that Spain's cycling federation justified seeking a one-year ban for Alberto Contador by saying his responsibility for a clenbuterol positive appeared to be minimal.

Italian media are reporting that Riccardo Riccò faces doping inquiries after being hospitalized on Sunday with a high fever and signs of kidney failure.

Three-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador, facing a one-year ban from cycling after testing positive for clenbuterol, has presented his arguments against a suspension to the Spanish cycling federation.

Riccardo Riccò was hospitalized overnight in an Italian hospital with high fever and apparent kidney failure.

Italian cyclist Davide Rebellin continues to insist that he didn’t dope at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, where he won a silver medal.

Tour of California organizers on Wednesday said Lance Armstrong is not a confirmed starter for this year's race.

Organizers of the Tour of California said Wednesday that athletes in this year's race will be subject to a rigorous anti-doping program that it says goes far beyond the programs at other races.

David Etxebarria — the former Spanish classics specialist who was marginalized during the Operación Puerto doping investigation of 2006 — criticized Alberto Contador in a series of searing Twitter postings.

Don Catlin, former director of the UCLA Olympic Analytical Lab and, briefly, the overseer of Lance Armstrong's anti-doping program during his 2009 comeback, says a recent Sports Illustrated article on Armstrong contains innuendo and mischaracterizes elements of the story about him.

Mike Anderson, who worked as a mechanic and handyman for Lance Armstrong during the Texan’s years of Tour de France domination, has told VeloNews that he stands by accusations he has made that Armstrong possessed performance-enhancing drugs, and said he is “ashamed” of his former association with the star cyclist.

Former USA Cycling president Jim Ochowicz has downplayed allegations from Floyd Landis that he has been involved in political maneuvering between U.S. riders and the UCI.

Team Movistar’s official presentation is Tuesday in Madrid, but Franco Pellizotti won’t be signing a late-hour contract with the Spanish team because his ongoing doping case remains unresolved.

MONACO (AFP) - Embattled Tour de France winner Alberto Contador was wiped from the record when his former Astana team staged its 2011 launch on Friday.

Is pro cycling sport or entertainment? Master of ceremonies Patrick O'Grady has the envelope.

PUIGPUNYENT, Spain (VN) – Bjarne Riis said he will stick by Alberto Contador during his ongoing fight against doping charges so long as evidence suggests that clenbuterol came from accidental contamination.

MALLORCA, Spain (VN) – An angry Alberto Contador vows to fight against a doping ban and reasserted his claims of innocence against charges that he doped to win the 2010 Tour de France.

MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spanish cyclist David Garcia has been handed a two-year doping ban following his positive test at the last Tour of Spain, the Spanish Cycling Federation said Thursday.

PALMA DE MAJORCA, Spain (AFP) - Tour de France champion Alberto Contador feels he has been "unfairly punished" by Spain's cycling federation, which has proposed suspending him for one year for a positive doping test, his spokesman said Thursday.

The UCI on Thursday sought to clarify that a one-year ban for Alberto Contador — announced by the rider's spokesman Wednesday — is only a preliminary proposal by the Spanish Cycling Federation.

Andy Schleck does not consider himself a Tour winner, he told the Dutch paper Wielerland. "For me Alberto is the winner of the 2010 Tour. I would love to win the Tour on my own." Schleck has said previously that he did not want to win the Tour via Contador's suspension.

A reader wants to know why an unethical athlete would look to clenbuterol for performance-enhancement.

Now that evidence suggests the metabolites of plasticizers in Alberto Contador's urine samples a reader wants to know if that's proof of doping.

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MADRID, Spain (AFP) - The Spanish Cycling Federation will inform Tour de France champion Alberto Contador of the results of its investigation into his positive drugs test from the 2010 race very shortly, a spokesman for the federation told AFP on Wednesday.

No one’s happier about growing speculation that a decision in the “caso Contador” could come as soon as Thursday than Alberto Contador.