Javier Fernández Alba, the president of the Madrid Cycling Federation, has hit back at the Spanish magazine that alleged he is embroiled in a doping investigation. He has also confirmed that he has no professional links whatsoever to Alberto Contador.
In a statement responding to a story that appeared in this week’s edition of Spanish tabloid magazine Interviú, Fernández Alba said he has no knowledge of a doping case relating to Spanish masters champion Francisco Prieto, who had tested positive for nandrolone. Fernández Alba added that he will be taking legal action against Interviú.
In the statement, Fernández Alba explained: “I have got no knowledge of being under investigation, nor do I know of any allegations made against me on the part of Francisco Prieto. The only information that I have, from the cyclist himself, is that he… has told the Spanish cycling federation’s commission that the substance he tested positive for was present in a complex vitamin product that he had been using for years without having any problems with it, and that he had acquired it in a sports centre where I offer my services… With this fraudulent action, Prieto has managed to delay the case against him at my cost and has been able to compete for the last year without anybody being able to stop him. This is the real motive for this farce.”
Fernández Alba added that he has had no professional link with Contador, as has been indicated in Interviú, who described him as the Tour de France winner’s “discoverer, manager and coach”. Fernández Alba also said that he has no professional link with cyclists Luis Pasamontes and Luis Pérez, and ex-pro and now triathlete Iván Raña, who were also mentioned in the story.
Contador also released a statement denying the pair have any professional links.
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Peter Cossins has written about professional cycling since 1993 and is a contributing editor to Procycling. He is the author of The Monuments: The Grit and the Glory of Cycling's Greatest One-Day Races (Bloomsbury, March 2014) and has translated Christophe Bassons' autobiography, A Clean Break (Bloomsbury, July 2014).
