Contador cleared of doping charges, used eating steak as defense

The steak defense worked.

Three-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador was cleared on Tuesday of doping charges stemming from a positive drug test he insists was triggered by eating contaminated filet mignon during last year's race. The Spanish cycling federation exonerated Contador on Tuesday. International officials can appeal the case. For now, Contador's one-year ban has been lifted and he is immediately eligible to compete.

It's a stunning turnaround for Contador. When news of the positive test broke in September, it was widely assumed that he'd be stripped of his Tour de France title and the sport of cycling would suffer another drug-related black eye. Blaming his positive test on eating steak seemed preposterous, the equivalent of "the dog ate my homework." Contador's excuse had scientific merit but little in terms of practicality. 

At the time, reports indicated that Contador was found with .000000000000125 grams of clenbuterol in his system, a trace amount that doctors say could have come from contaminated meat. (Other reports said the amount was higher.) Clenbuterol is often used by cattle farmers to increase lean meat and can be passed on to humans if they ate steak injected with the drug. In theory, it could have happened.

The problem is, clenbuterol has been banned in the European Union since 1996. Some cattle farmers are known to illicitly use the drug, but insiders say that mainly happens in Asia. Of over 80,000 tests of animals in the EU during 2008 and 2009, only one came back positive for the drug. 

Even if Contador got his steak FedEx'ed from Southeast Asia, there were other signs of his guilt. As Austin Murphy wrote in a damning Sports Illustrated piece last year, Contador was also believed to have had a large amount of plasticizers in his blood, a fact which would suggest he had engaged in blood doping during the tour. Worse yet was the allegation that the head of the International Cycling Union initially denied Contador's positive test. Given the organization's past history of burying the news of failed tests by top riders, it was another red flag.

The news that Contador has been cleared does nothing to clean up the image of the sport. If anything, it may sully the reputation of cycling even more. 

Zooey Deschanel Tara Reid Coco Lee Katy Perry Vinessa Shaw