Contador banned for one year over doping test

Alberto Contador

MADRID, (Reuters) – The Spanish cycling federation  (RFEC) has decided to suspend Tour de France champion Alberto  Contador for one year over his failed doping test in last year’s  race.

“Alberto Contador has received today a notification of a  one-year ban proposal by the competition committee of the  Spanish federation,” said a statement released by the rider’s  spokesman Jacinto Vidarte yesterday.

Contador, who has threatened to end his career if he is  punished, has 10 days to appeal the preliminary ruling before  the RFEC makes a final decision.
The 28-year-old will hold a news conference tomorrow at 1500 GMT in Mallorca where he is training with his Saxo Bank  team, Vidarte added.

He made no mention of whether the federation had also  decided to strip the Spaniard of the 2010 Tour title.    Contador has been provisionally suspended since August after  it emerged he had tested positive for the banned anabolic agent  clenbuterol during his third Tour de France win.

He has denied deliberate wrongdoing, saying the failed test  was due to contaminated meat. Even if he accepts the federation’s decision he may not be  able to put the controversy behind him right away since the UCI,  cycling’s world governing body, and the World Anti-Doping Agency  (WADA) could challenge the ban.
DOPING SCANDALS

The UCI, rocked by several high profile doping scandals in  recent years, may appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport  (CAS) if it feels the RFEC has been too lenient.

Contador could also take his case to the CAS, sport’s final  court of appeal.

Alberto Contador

One of only five men with titles in all three grand Tours  (Giro d’Italia, Tour of Spain and Tour de France), Contador told  Spanish radio from Mallorca earlier yesterday that he was  “motivated and focused on his work”.

“Right now the most important thing is to remove yourself a  bit from everything that is going on around you and focus on  working, which is what can bear fruit in the future,” he said.

Saxo Bank said last year they would stay in the sport even  if Contador was banned.
He won the 2010 Tour de France by 39 seconds from  Luxembourg’s Andy Schleck who will be regarded as the hot  favourite for this year’s race should Contador miss the event.

UCI chief Pat McQuaid said earlier this month Contador was  likely to miss the Tour because the rider would be suspended or  due to the fact he would not be fit in time.

In recent years the sport has been tarnished by a string of  high profile doping cases including 1996 Tour winner Bjarne Riis  and 2006 champion Floyd Landis.

Seven-times Tour champion Lance Armstrong is also the focus  of a federal investigation in the U.S. after Landis last year  alleged the 39-year-old Texan and other prominent figures in the  sport had doped.     Armstrong has always denied doping.