Disappointment over Contador ban
Spain's cycling supremo Juan Carlos Castano on Monday voiced his disappointment over a two-year doping ban imposed on Alberto Contador by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Former Spanish Tour de France champions Carlos Sastre and Pedro Delgado were also not amused by the sanction which also includes Contador being stripped of the 2010 Tour title and that from the 2011 Giro d'Italia.
The Spanish cycling federation had originally not banned Contador for testing positive for clenbuterol at the 2010 Tour as the rider protested his innocence and blamed the result on contaminated meat.
But CAS upheld an appeal by the world governing cycling body UCI and the World Anti-Doping Agency.
While Contador was yet to comment, Castano was not pleased with the outcome after hoping for positive news.
"It is very sad and disagreeable news for Spanish cycling in particular and for sports in our country generally," he said.
The 2008 Tour winner Sastre and Delgado, a champion at the famous race in 1988, found harsh word for CAS.
Sastre named the sanction "laughable, difficult to understand, it does not have any logic.
"If you have evidence and doping has been proven, you sanction it. But if there is no evidence and it is not proven, you cannot do it."
Delgado said that the presence of clenbuterol warranted a ban, but of one year at most, and questioned how the responsible bodies were tackling the fight against doping.
"Sight is being lost of reality in the fight against doping," said Delgado. "The sport has a problem, no longer with the athletes, but with organs seeking a profile above the sport."
Delgado named the sanction "exaggerated and all the more so, when the tribunal itself admits doping has not been proven.
"If the case had been of a less known cyclist, the sanction would have been lesser."
Former cycling great Eddy Merckx was "disgusted" at the outcome.
"I would like other sports to go and try to find minute traces of clenbuterol. It's another huge blow to cycling," he commented.
Marc Madiot, FDJ-Bigmat manager felt that the whole process had taken too long.
"All races have been distorted for a year and a half," he said. "Andy Schleck will get the Tour title but he will be reminded all his life of how he got it. The system has to change."
Alejandro Blanco, the president of Spain's Olympic Committee (COE), said it had been "a bad day for cycling and for Spanish sport" but that he still believed Contador was innocent.
"I want to express my respect for Alberto and I am waiting (for him to begin competing again) so he can show he is a champion once more," Blanco, who is leading Madrid's bid for the 2020 summer Olympic Games, was quoted as saying in local media.
"I continue to believe in his innocence, in Alberto," he added.
Jose Luis De Santos, national team coach at the Spanish cycling federation (RFEC), said as well as a blow to Contador, the CAS decision was a setback for the sport in Spain as the rider was the nation's "reference point in the grand tours".
However, he said he did not believe anyone involved in cycling could "doubt Alberto's integrity".
"People in the world of sport have seen that Alberto is innocent," De Santos said. "He has elevated the values of sport, of effort and of sacrifice to the maximum to reach the
Additional reporting: Reuters