Landis: Contador’s coach was a drug-trafficker

Floyd Landis has alleged that he was sold doping products by a former coach at the US Postal team, Pepe Martí, who then went on to work with Alberto Contador at Discovery Channel and Astana. Interviewed on Germany’s ARD TV channel, Landis alleged that Martí was “nothing more than a known drug-trafficker. During my time as a rider at US Postal he sold me growth hormones, EPO and other illegal substances.”

Earlier this year, Landis, who was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title after testing positive for testosterone, sent a series of emails to the US Federation and the UCI alleging that he had been systematically doped at US Postal from 2002 and that Martí had supplied him and a number of other team-mates with performance-enhancing products, including Lance Armstrong, George Hincapie and Levi Leipheimer.

Contador’s spokesman, Jacinto Vidarte, responded to Landis’s latest comments in a statement sent to AS. “Alberto knew Martí when he was at Discovery. As he was then a coach at the team, he was in charge of training. He also fulfilled that role at Astana as he moved into the Kazakh set-up after the North American team folded,” said the statement.

It continued: “This year, the only people responsible for Alberto’s calendar and preparation are the members of the Saxo Bank team and Bjarne Riis. What he says about Martí is false.”