Dutch MTBer of the year claims results came from contaminated Mexican meat
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Rudi Van Houts (Multivan Merida) on the North shore ladder section.(Image credit: Armin Küstenbrück)
Rudi van Houts (Multivan Merida Biking Team)(Image credit: Daniel Geiger)
Rudi Van Houts (Netherlands)(Image credit: Hilton Meyer)
Dutch mountain biker of the year Rudi van Houts has tested positive for Clenbuterol. He returned the positive doping control immediately after returning from a trip to Mexico in late October.
“I know I am innocent,” he said in a press release issued Thursday. “In Mexico, we ate a lot of meat, it is possible the Clenbuterol was in this food. Otherwise I wouldn't know how the Clenbuterol came into my body.
“I'm going to do everything I can to prove I am innocent,” he said. Van Houts has already given a sample for a hair analysis test.
The Dutchman is looking to other athletes who have recently tested positive for the same substance, including Alberto Contador. He cited German table tennis player Dimitrij Ovtcharov, who was found innocent.
A more similar case is that of Italian cyclist Alessandro Colo, who tested positive for Clenbuterol at the Tour of Mexico in April. The ISD-Neri rider was given a reduced one-year ban after his defence offered official data showing that 18 percent of all meat in Mexico is treated with Clenbuterol.
“I hold on to these cases. I am not quitting,” van Houts said. “If you know you didn't take the Clenbuterol, you have enough reasons to prove you are innocent.”
The 26-year-old rides for Multivan Merida Biking Team He won the Dutch cross country national title this year and was the highest-ranking Dutch rider in the UCI World Cup rankings for 2010, as 20th.
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