Alberto Contador fails second drug test

The three-time Tour de France winner is facing a two-year ban and the loss of his championship title.

In terms of credibility, international cycling is sinking to levels previously seen only on the Nevada boxing circuit. Doping is practically endemic in cycling, and 2006 Tour de France champion Floyd Landis admitted earlier this year that he and several members of the U.S. Postal Service team on which he raced with Lance Armstrong took performance-enhancing drugs. Alberto Contador won this year’s Tour de France, but afterwards tested positive for metabolism-boosting clenbuterol. He blamed that test on some bad meat, but now he’s got more explaining to do as officials announced yesterday that he has also tested positive for a plasticizer used in IV bags, which they believe he used to give himself a blood transfusion in the race’s final stages.