Cycling:The disciplinary hearing against Alberto Contador over his failed drugs test could last much longer than the one-month period permitted by the UCI.
The head of Spain's Cycling Federation (RFEC), Juan Carlos Castano, said over 600 pages of material, far more than usual in doping cases, was sent by the world governing body, the UCI, dealing with the triple Tour de France winner's positive test for the stimulant clenbuterol and his provisional suspension.
"We could be looking at three months or even more," Castano said after the federation finished its first meeting looking into the case. “There's so much ground to cover, far more than in a normal case and we'll take it as slowly and thoroughly as we need to. We want this to go quickly but the important thing is Alberto gets a fair trial."
Contador says contaminated beef, consumed on the 2010 Tour's second rest day, was responsible for the tiny traces of clenbuterol found in one of his urine samples. He was suspended on August 24th although the case only became public on September 30th.
Nearly six weeks later, after intense consultations between the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), a legal hearing has finally begun and Contador's federation will now decide if he should receive any penalty.
"We were following the case in the press and knew about Alberto's adverse finding (positive dope test) but we didn't have an official communique until November 8th," said Castano. "I actually wondered if the case was ever going to be passed on to us at all. A lot of time has gone past and now we'll almost certainly go over the established time limit to reach a verdict."
"But whatever international legislation may say, Spanish sports laws say we can take up to three months. Usually if you go over the month limit (for doping cases), the UCI sends you an email asking why it's taking so long, you send one back explaining what's happened, and that's as far as it goes."