Winning the Tour with Seasonal Allergies

I haven't really formed much of an opinion or done much research on the Contador testing positive news. My initial response, since it's a positive for Clenbuterol, which is a steroid product used inhalers, was that I remembered an interview I read with him a few years ago where he complained about having really bad seasonal allergies and that he liked it when it rained so that he could breath. I also remembered his losing one of the week long stage races, maybe Paris-Nice, and he blamed it on allergies. Who knows?

I'm not sure I care if he's positive or not. He's trying to go with some food ingestion theory, who knows, maybe it's true. I find it more surprising this year since his performance, while obviously good enough to win, wasn't that explosive form that he usually embarrasses everybody else with. If he had tested positive last year it would have been the same as when Ricco tested positive after riding faster than the motorcycles to the summit finish. But not this year, it just didn't go that way. It seemed like he was always on his limit and sort of relieved that nobody else was just a tad better. Maybe that means that in 2007-2009 he was way doped up and this year he was only a little doped up. Again, who knows?

The other thing that jumps out at me is the timing. Why'd it take this long to report the positive? Floyd's positive was announced within a week of the end of the Tour. This was announced at the end of September? I'm sure they told him ahead of time as that seems to be the practice, but what took it so long to hit the media? Especially the American media who have a pretty clear anti-Contador agenda. A Contador positive will make all the Armstrong lovers out there shout with "I knew its!"

Maybe I'm just a cynic but I just don't care any more. I want the sport of clean up like everybody else but when this story hit the velonews front page, I skipped it to read about cyclocross races I'd already read about. I guess I'll be more interested after the trial or case or hearing or whatever they're going to hold to decide what happens.

One thing that I do find sort of ironic, no Riss rider is ever caught up in these scandals. It's clear that this one pre-dates the Riss/Contador relationship, but, it's there now. With everybody else fleeing the Riss Cycling ship I wonder how Riss plans on handling the situation? Seems like in the past he'd have taken a hard line right from the start, but when it's your new golden boy that essentially brought the sponsor money in, it's got to be a little tough to tell him he's out of a job.