Hold your horses, please

Before we jump to a whole raft of conclusions, let’s give Alberto Contador the benefit of the doubt, writes Anthony Tan

Hang on, let's wait a moment.

Before we all start saying this is the 2006 Tour de France all over again and feel like we've spent another three-and-half weeks in July watching a non-event, we, as respectful members of the cycling community, need to give Alberto Contador the benefit of the doubt.

Remember, it was the statement from the UCI – not Contador's press office – that said the amount of clenbuterol found in Contador's A-sample urine test was "400 times less than what the anti-doping laboratories accredited by WADA [the World Anti-Doping Agency] must be able to detect", with the B sample confirming a trace element so small, Dutch anti-doping expert, Douwe de Boer, affirmed it would offer not the slightest performance gain.

"To be honest, we need all the information; at the moment it doesn't make much sense," said David Millar after Thursday's silver medal performance in the Worlds time trial, "in the fact it was a rest day control and a micro-dose of a steroid stimulant, like Salbutamol."

Millar, who used EPO to win the time trial world title in 2003 before being stripped of the crown – that went to Michael Rogers – said after a two-year suspension and four years riding clean, as well as being a staunch anti-doping advocate, "I like to think I'm beyond vindication now".

"So I think there are a lot of questions that need to be answered," Millar said of the dilemma Contador now faces, "and I, one-hundred percent, give Alberto the full benefit of the doubt, because you have to understand these things can be quite complicated.

"And it's a shame that it's out there, when it could be something completely innocent – so let's wait and see," offered Millar.

And while Floyd Landis is far from being beyond reproach, some of what he did say during the 'New Pathways for Pro Cycling' conference earlier in the week makes sense. "To single out a rider every two weeks or two months or how often it is and tear them down and say, 'Look what we're doing , we're fixing the problem', is in fact counterproductive because it hurts the sport; it makes the reputation of everyone else, whether guilty or innocent, tarnished because of that."

"We can't ignore [doping], but we also have to accept that it's here to stay," said Landis.

"So, at the very least," he said, "I think we should accept that the problem's here to stay but we need to work towards some sort of solution that doesn't destroy the sport in the process in trying to fix the problem."

The public knowing a cyclist tested positive without fully knowing or understanding why is part of the problem; not the solution.

Contador says it was contaminated food in some meat he ate before the July 21 test. Let's see if that is indeed the case before writing him, and by extension, the sport of cycling, off once again.