TRIPLE TOUR de France winner Alberto Contador will unexpectedly return to racing today in the Volta ao Algarve in Portugal, having been cleared in full of doping charges by the Spanish cycling federation RFEC.

Contador had been expected to receive a ban of at least one year after testing positive for Clenbuterol during the 2010 Tour, and indeed the disciplinary committee of the federation proposed a sanction of this length last month. However the legal team of the 28-year-old provided additional arguments and the four judges concerned decided he should be cleared.

“First of all, I’m relieved and obviously happy about this ruling. It has been some very stressful months for me, but throughout the case I have been totally available for all inquiries, and all the way through I have spoken in accordance with the truth,” Contador said yesterday. “To both the team and the authorities, I have explained I never cheated or deliberately took a banned substance.”

Contador’s defence was based around his assertion the Clenbuterol detected in a urine test carried out on the second rest day of the Tour de France occurred because he had eaten contaminated meat the evening before. He said a friend had bought steak in the Basque town of Irun prior to crossing the border into France, giving the meat to the team to eat because the beef in the hotel they were staying in was too tough.

A story that seemed implausible gained an additional question mark in October when the New York Times quoted an unnamed source as saying he had high levels of plasticizers in his system. Although it is not yet ratified by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), the test is seen as an indirect method of detecting blood transfusions. The inference was that the Clenbutol positive could have occurred if he had used the substance in training, prior to extracting blood before the Tour.

However there has been no confirmation since then about those reports, and there are no indications these plasticizer claims formed part of the case against him. If those claims were indeed accurate, it is possible they could form part of an appeal against the RFEC’s decision. Anti-doping scientists have been working hard at ratifying the plasticizer test in recent months.

Speaking to The Irish Times yesterday, a Wada spokesperson said both it and the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) would fully assess the RFEC report before deciding if appeals would be lodged with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. “As with any decision taken by a World Anti-Doping Code signatory in relation to anti-doping matters, Wada will review the reasons for the decision once it receives it,” she stated.

“Following receipt of the entire file and decision from the Spanish cycling federation, the UCI has 30 days to exercise its right of appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Wada has another 21 days to determine whether or not to use its independent right of appeal to the CAS.”

In the meantime, Contador is free to compete and will resume racing today in the Volta ao Algarve, which he won last year. His Saxo Bank SunGard team is cautiously optimistic it’s the end of the matter. “This decision is indeed proof the relevant authorities do not find grounds for believing Alberto Contador has committed any intentional doping offence, which is absolutely vital for us,” said general manager Bjarne Riis. “So I’m obviously happy on behalf of Alberto and the team. . . . but we’re also sensitive to the fact the parties of this case still have the right to appeal this decision.”

An appeal does seem likely and could, according to the UCI, take four months to complete. That would put a conclusion around the start of July, a time when Contador will aim to line out in France and target what would be his fourth Tour de France win.

Whether or not he will be there remains to be seen.

THE RFEC decision yesterday was accompanied by a denial on its part that political influence could have affected the outcome of its disciplinary hearing.

Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero said last week he believed “there’s no legal reason to justify sanctioning Contador”.

RFEC president Juan Carlos Castano said prior to the hearing he hoped the rider would be cleared, as he knew him from when he was young rider. The Social Democrat Party and Popular Party backed Contador’s claims he didn’t knowingly ingest the substance and should be cleared, as did Angel Juanes, président of the Audiencia Nacional Española, the highest court after the Supreme court.

The RFEC judges yesterday said suggestions of political pressure were wrong. “Those comments are so disrespectful that they damage the sensibility and professionalism of the members of this committee,” they claimed.