Contador accused of doping in 2005 by fomer team masseur

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According to a Spanish newspaper, a former masseur of the Liberty Seguros team has stated under oath that he personally saw Alberto Contador being injected with insulin, a forbidden substance, during the 2005 Tour de France, when Contador rode for the Spanish squad. The source, who has remained anonymous, made the allegations on May 11, 2011, in front of representatives of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which was looking into the Spanish Tour de France winner's Clenbuterol positive from the Tour 2010 and preparing to take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Contador's lawyers, according to Interviu, managed to avoid having the witness testify in front of CAS as the Contador case unfolded.

"They administered insulin injections to Contador at the Tour de France 2005," the former soigneur is reported to have said. "Eufemiano Fuentes was the doctor of the team as a matter of fact, and insulin was part of the treatment for all of the riders."

Contador, as well as Roberto Heras and Joseba Beloki, raced for Manolo Saiz's team in 2005, one year before Spanish police revealed Fuentes' doping activities in what became known as Operacion Puerto. The witness, according to the paper, was going to testify in front of the CAS in the Contador case, but the Spaniard's lawyers were able to block this.

"We deny the accusations of the unnamed witness, according to which [Contador] was implicated in a doping plan or that he received insulin injections," stated Contador's defense. "The tribunal must have noticed that that the witness refers to the infamous doctor Fuentes, the center of Operacion Puerto. The accused has already been subject to an extensive investigation in 2006, and in August of that year he was cleared from any implication whatsoever by the Spanish courts and by the International Cycling Union (sic)."

It is not known whether the anonymous source has testified or will be testifying in front of the Spanish court which re-opened an investigation into the Puerto case in November last year. Fuentes and Saiz, amongst others, face a trial in which Contador and Ivan Basso are said to appear as witnesses.

CAS sentenced Contador to a two-year ban from racing following his Clenbuterol positive. The Spaniard will return to competition as of August 5, 2012.