According to this article, the concentration is "400 times less than the threshold required"...
Huh? 400 times less or 400 times more?
And 50 picograms is an almost incomprehensibly small amount - 10^-12
This is:
0.000000000005 grams. 50 TRILLIONTH of a gram.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/sep/30/alberto-contador-positive-test
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Alberto Contador Alberto Contador could be stripped of his Tour de France title.
The triple Tour de France winner Alberto Contador has been provisionally suspended after traces of the bronchodilator clenbuterol were found in a urine sample given by the Spaniard on the second rest day of the Tour de France, 21 July. The sample was taken in Pau the day before the most important stage of the race through the Pyrénees. If the finding is confirmed, the Spaniard could lose his Tour title.
Contador was notified of the finding on 24 August, his spokesman said yesterday. A statement from cycling's governing body, the International Cycling Union, issued this morning said that the concentration of clenbuterol found in Contador's urine was 50 picograms, 400 times less than the threshold required by a World Anti-Doping Agency accredited laboratory, and that investigations were in progress.
"This case required further scientific investigation before any conclusion could be drawn. The UCI continues working with the scientific support of WADA to analyse all the elements that are relevant to the case," said the statement. Contador himself claimed that he could only have ingested the substance through contaminated food.
"From the time of the first communication from the UCI, 24 August, Alberto Contador claimed food contamination as the only possible explanation of what happened," said a statement from the Spaniard, adding that he would explain further in a press conference later today in his home town of Pinto, near Madrid.
Clenbuterol is a bronchial dilator similar to the asthma drug salbutamol, which assists the breathing, assists oxygen transportation and can also be used to help weight loss as it increases the rate at which fats are metabolised. The most high-profile case in cycling to date involving the substance dates back to 1997 and the triple green jersey winner Djamolidin Abduzhaparov. Although the strict liability rules of drug testing mean an athlete is responsible for the substances found in his body, a recent case involving the swimmer Jessica Hardy was contested and resulted in a reduced ban after a panel ruled that the substance had been ingested inadvertently.
Contador was initially linked to the Spanish blood-doping ring Operation Puerto in 2006, but denied any wrongdoing and was eventually cleared, but he is by no means the first Tour de France winner in recent years to face drugs allegations or contested tests. In 1994 the five-times winner Miguel Indurain was "positive" in France after traces of the asthma drug salbutamol were found in his urine and judged to be over the limit for that country, but was then cleared by the UCI, while the seven-times victor Lance Armstrong has been subjected to drugs allegations for the last 10 years, and is currently at the centre of a Federal investigation in the US, but has always strongly denied any drug-taking and none of the allegations have ever been proved. The only Tour winner to be found positive and stripped of his title, however, is Floyd Landis of the US, who was banned for testosterone use in 2006.