Contador says UCI told him to stay quiet over clenbuterol affair

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Both Alberto Contador’s current and next teams Astana and Saxo Bank have felt offended that the winner of the Tour de France didn’t inform them about the ongoing investigation regarding the food contamination that led to the detection of clenbuterol in his urines last July. But the Spaniard came up with an excuse, saying that the UCI asked him to shut up over the matter.

“The UCI always asked me not to tell anybody”, Contador revealed to Danish network TV2. “It seemed that everything was in order and would be resolved internally. Because of the confidentiality requested by the UCI, I haven’t told anything to Bjarne Riis.” The Spaniard earlier said to Danish newspaper BT: “Perhaps I should have told him sooner, but I decided ultimately that it was best for all parties not to say anything.”

Contador’s current team Astana issued a statement on Friday in which the direction of the team regretted that they “just learnt yesterday from a press release issued by his press officer that Alberto Contador had an abnormal doping control during last Tour de France. The headers are now expecting further explanations from Alberto Contador.”

Cyclingnews understands that his employers would have appreciated to be informed by Contador when he joined them to ride a criterium in Kazakhstan last week. Vinokourov’s entourage reported that the Spanish star had been very friendly with everyone from the Astana team although he’s leaving for joining Saxo Bank next year.

During his press conference in Geelong, Australia, on Saturday, UCI president Pat McQuaid somehow confirmed the confidentiality clause as he said: “The results process has to be confidential, it is not about speculation, but about the research of the scientific aspects. Leaks are not fair to the system and speculation does not help. It can be compared to the work of an investigative magistrate, which is also confidential.”

The news was broken by Contador’s personal press officer because German TV station ARD was about to report about the case and that’s how Astana, Saxo Bank and the general public were all informed at the same time.

“It is in our interest and the sport’s interest, that this thing comes to a conclusion as quickly as possible”, McQuaid underlined.