Alberto Contador Velasco (Astana) leads Janez Brajkovic (Team Radioshack) with just over six and a half kilometres to Alpe d'Huez.(Image credit: Russell Standring/www.grenoblecycling.com)
Alberto Contador warms up for the Dauphine time trial.(Image credit: Hedwig Kröner)
Alberto Contador (Astana) lost the overall lead of the Dauphine in the 49km time trial.(Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Belgian magazine Humo has published allegations on its website that Alberto Contador used Clenbuterol after the Criterium du Dauphiné in June. The magazine quoted an anonymous source close to his Astana team, who also alleged that Contador withdrew blood after the event to be used for a transfusion at a later date.
Contador has repeatedly denied knowingly using Clenbuterol and has refuted claims cited in L’Équipe that his positive sample for the substance is explicable by a blood transfusion during the Tour de France. The Spanish rider has since stated that he will not speak to the press on the matter again until after a ruling has been made on his case.
Humo’s unnamed source from the Astana set-up claimed that Contador used Clenbuterol in order to lose weight. The source suggests that it was used in combination with the thyroid hormone Triiodothyronine, which aids in the digestion of fat.
“During the Dauphiné, Contador was still a little overweight,” the source told Humo. “Ordinary people would not notice, but he was still a kilo or two off. That’s what Clenbuterol is used for: to lose the last kilos and at the same time not decrease muscle mass, or in the best case, increase it.”
Contador finished in second place overall at the Dauphiné, winning the queen stage to l’Alpe d’Huez.
The interview will be published in full in the print edition of the magazine on Tuesday.
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Barry Ryan is Head of Features at Cyclingnews. He has covered professional cycling since 2010, reporting from the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and events from Argentina to Japan. His writing has appeared in The Independent, Procycling and Cycling Plus. He is the author of The Ascent: Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and the Rise of Irish Cycling’s Golden Generation, published by Gill Books.
