UCI to decide on appeal over Contador by March 24

Cycling's governing body will decide by March 24 whether to appeal the decision by the Spanish federation to clear Tour de France champion Alberto Contador of doping.

Pat McQuaid, the president of the International Cycling Union, said Saturday, the UCI will take its time to study the case after only receiving all the files last month. The UCI's judicial department will start reviewing the case on Monday.

The UCI could appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.

Contador tested positive for clenbuterol while winning last year's Tour. Last month, the Spanish federation's disciplinary committee accepted Contador's defense that he unintentionally ingested the banned substance by eating contaminated beef.

"This is a very difficult case for cycling," McQuaid said.

WADA has three more weeks than the UCI to decide whether to appeal to CAS, and McQuaid said the two organizations are closely monitoring the case together.

The International Olympic Committee's top anti-doping official said last week he has seen no convincing evidence that athletes can inadvertently test positive for clenbuterol by eating contaminated meat.

Prof. Arne Ljungqvist told The Associated Press that claims of food contamination have never been accepted by an international sports panel, and it's not uncommon for national federations to clear their athletes only to have the decisions reversed on appeal.

McQuaid was unhappy at a cyclists' union threat of "drastic action" if the UCI doesn't backpedal on its decision to ban radio communication during races. The International Association of Professional Cycling Groups didn't specify what it meant.

"Never in its history has the UCI succumbed to threats such as that," McQuaid said. "And I think it's not going to happen this year either."

McQuaid met a delegation from the AIGCP at UCI's headquarters in Aigle, Switzerland, but both parties failed to find a compromise on the issue.

The UCI says radio communication distorts the nature of racing, but the AIGCP maintains that the use of earpieces makes riders safer.

"I had a delegation of three members who came specially to discuss it with me," McQuaid said. "I never had a delegation of the AIGCP coming to discuss more important matters in our sport, for example doping and the credibility of our sport."