Say it ain’t so, Alberto

Has Alberto been a pretender all this time?

The allegations surfacing today that three-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador has tested positive to a banned substance may well be the final nail in the sport’s coffin. His alleged positive test to the steroid clenbuterol came on July 21 this year, in the final days of this year’s edition of the Tour de France, which Contador took home. Whether proven guilty or not, his reputation and undoutedly his sport, will be shrouded in disgrace for some time. He was already banned from the 2008 edition and unable to defend his 2007 crown due to his association with scandal-ridden team Astana.
Just as the cycling world championships being held in Geelong have got underway, a sport that has seen a surge in popularity and credibility in the last few years since the Floyd Landis debacle, will again have to rebuild itself. And with it’s poster-boy Lance Armstrong seemingly unable to return to his former dizzy heights, the sport will now be left reeling and scurrying to find a new flawless hero. Such examples are becoming more and more difficult to uncover.
As a follower of world cycling, and someone who has spent the last few Julys up until all hours of the morning to watch the sport’s best battle it out in the Alps and Pyrenees, you can’t help but feel extremely let down. While at times it feels physically excruciating to stay awake for the final sprint at the end of each stage, the only comfort has been knowing that our sacrifice as television viewers pales in insignificance when compared to what the riders put themselves through every day for three weeks. Next winter, I’m not sure that I can justify tuning in after midnight to watch these supposed freaks of “nature” push their bodies to the limit. I’m sure I won’t be alone. The Tour de France has been described as the most physiologically demanding athletic event in the world, and thats what makes it great to watch. Perhaps it it simply too demanding on the competitors.
And while Alberto has the right to be innocent until proven guilty, the fact is that a large portion of these allegations against world-renowned cyclists have turned out to be accurate, with the only exception coming to mind being that of Landis proclaiming this year that he witnessed Lance Armstrong using drugs.
Contador is claiming the only possible way he could have tested positive would be due to food contamination outside of his control, but the timing of the alleged failed test, in the last grueling days of a Tour de France as he battled neck-and-neck with Andy Schleck to hold onto his yellow jersey, is just too damning. You have to wonder how the riders think they can beat the system, no matter how advanced and fool-proof they think their masking agents are. I hope for his sake and the sport’s sake he is somehow found to be not guilty, but even then, many fans will have walked away already.
Again, this will not only affect the Tour de France’s credibility, but the sport as a whole, and suddenly the current world championships are being looked at suspiciously. Say it ain’t so, Alberto.