Alberto Contador
Encyclopedia
Alberto Contador Velasco (alˈβerto kontaˈðor βeˈlasko; born 6 December 1982) is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam . He was the winner of the 2007 Tour de France
with the team. With the Astana team he has won the 2008 Giro d'Italia
, the 2008 Vuelta a España
, the 2009 Tour de France
, the 2010 Tour de France
and won 2011 Giro d'Italia
with team Saxo Bank-SunGard. He is the fifth racer in history, and the first Spaniard, to win all three Grand Tours
of road cycling.
Contador is widely considered to be the best climbing specialist and stage racer in the world. Notable summit stage finishes on which he has victories include the Alto de El Angliru
in the Vuelta, the Plateau de Beille
in the Tour and Mount Etna
in the Giro . After being widely expected to lose his tenuous lead in the 2007 Tour de France in that race's final individual time trial
, Contador has become a more accomplished time trialist, with several victories in the discipline. He has earned a reputation as an all-rounder, a cyclist who excels in all aspects of stage racing which are needed for high places in the general classification
.
Contador's career has been marked by occasional doping allegations, the foremost of which, the Operación Puerto doping case
, led his team (a team unrelated in composition to the current Astana team, despite the same sponsor) to withdraw en masse from the 2006 Tour de France
before it began. He was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing, but was also accused of doping after his victory in the race the following year. In September 2010, Contador announced that he had tested positive for clenbuterol
in a control taken during that year's Tour de France, but although he was suspended during an investigation,
he was cleared by the Spanish cycling federation. A review by the Court of Arbitration for Sport
initially set for June 2011 was later deferred until November 2011.
in the Community of Madrid, the third of four children. He has an older brother and sister and a younger brother, who has cerebral palsy
. Having previously practiced other sports, such as football and athletics, Contador discovered cycling at the age of 14 thanks to his elder brother Francisco Javier.
When Contador was 15, he began to compete in races at the amateur level in Spain, joining the Real Velo Club Portillo from Madrid. Although he got no victories that year or the next, he demonstrated great qualities and was soon nicknamed Pantani (after Marco Pantani
, regarded as one of the best climbers of all time) for his climbing skills. In 2000, he experienced his first victories, winning several mountains classification prizes from prominent events on the Spanish amateur cycling calendar.
He dropped out of school at the age of 16 without having finished his Bachillerato and signed with Iberdrola-Loinaz, a youth team run by Manolo Saiz
, manager of the professional ONCE cycling team
. In 2001, he won the under-23 Spanish time trial championship.
Contador lives with his wife Macarena in the city of Pinto when not competing, and enjoys hunting in his spare time. He has a fascination for birds, keeping personally bred canaries and goldfinches at home.
. In his first year as a professional he won the eighth stage of the Tour de Pologne
, an individual time trial. During the first stage of the 2004 Vuelta a Asturias
he started to feel unwell, and after 40 kilometers he fell and went into convulsions. He had been suffering from headaches for several days beforehand and was diagnosed with a cerebral cavernoma, a congenital vascular disorder, for which he underwent risky surgery and a recovery to get back on his bike. As a result of the surgery, he has a scar that runs from one ear to the other over the top of his head. Contador started to train again at the end of 2004 and eight months after the surgery he won the fifth stage of the 2005 Tour Down Under
racing for Liberty Seguros, as the team previously known as ONCE had become. He went on to win the third stage and the overall classification of the Setmana Catalana, thus winning his first stage race as a professional. He also won an individual time trial during the Vuelta al País Vasco, where he finished third, and the fourth stage of the Tour de Romandie, where he finished fourth overall.
In 2006, he won stages at the Tour de Romandie and Tour de Suisse in preparation for the Tour de France
. Prior to the start of the race he was implicated along with several teammates in the Operación Puerto doping case
by the Spanish authorities, and the team was not able to start. He was later cleared by the Union Cycliste Internationale
, cycling's governing body
. Contador returned to racing in the Vuelta a Burgos
but he crashed after finishing fifth in stage 4, when he was riding back down to the team bus, and briefly lost consciousness.
, Contador was without a professional contract until mid-January 2007, when he signed with .
Contador's first major professional victory came with the 2007 Paris–Nice, which he won on the race's final stage. Discovery effectively wore down the remnants of the race leader Davide Rebellin
's Gerolsteiner
team, allowing Contador to launch an attack on the final climb. With Rebellin leading the chase, Contador held off his competitors in the final kilometers, winning him the race.
In the 2007 Tour de France
, he won a stage at the mountaintop finish of Plateau-de-Beille, and was second in the general classification to Michael Rasmussen
. Upon Rasmussen's removal from the race before stage 17 for lying to his team about his pre-race training whereabouts, Contador assumed the overall lead and the yellow jersey, though he did not don it until after the stage. In the stage 19 individual time trial, he managed to defy expectations and keep hold of the yellow jersey by a margin of only 23 seconds over challenger Cadel Evans
and 31 seconds over teammate Levi Leipheimer
. As this was the Tour's penultimate stage, it was the last real competition of the race (since the final stage is traditionally non-competitive save for a bunched sprint to the finish line) and it secured Contador his first Tour de France victory. It is the closest the top three finishers in the Tour de France have ever finished to one another.
After Discovery Channel announced 2007 would be its final season in professional cycling, Contador announced on 23 October 2007 that he would move to the Astana
team for 2008.
On 13 February 2008, the organizer of the Tour de France, the Amaury Sport Organisation
, announced that Astana would not be invited to any of their events in 2008 due to the doping previously perpetrated by Astana, despite the fact that its management and most of its ridership had changed before the 2008 season. Consequently, Contador was unable to defend his 2007 Paris–Nice and 2007 Tour de France
victories. He went on to win his second Vuelta a Castilla y León
, as well as the Vuelta al País Vasco
by winning the opening stage and the final individual time trial. His next scheduled race and objective was the Dauphiné Libéré but his team received an invite to the 2008 Giro d'Italia
one week prior to the start of the race. Contador was on a beach in Spain when he was told he was going to ride the Giro.
Despite the lack of preparation, he finished second in the first individual time trial and took the pink jersey after the 15th stage up to Passo Fedaia. Upon winning the final pink jersey in Milan, he became the first non-Italian to win the Giro d'Italia since Pavel Tonkov
in 1996
and also the second Spanish rider to win the Giro after Miguel Indurain
won in 1992
and 1993
. He later emphasized the importance of this win by saying that "taking part in the Giro and winning it was a really big achievement, bigger than if I'd had a second victory in the Tour de France".
At the 2008 Summer Olympic Games
, Contador competed in the road race and the individual road time trial. He did not finish in the road race, in which 53 of the 143 starters did not complete the course in particularly hot and humid conditions. He placed fourth in the individual time trial, eight seconds behind his regular teammate Leipheimer.
Contador entered the 2008 Vuelta a España
as the main candidate to win. His biggest challenger was likely to be compatriot Carlos Sastre
, who had won the Tour de France
just a month before. Contador won stage 13 by attacking on the fabled Angliru
climb and this resulted in him capturing the golden jersey as the leader of the race. He extended his lead by winning stage 14 to Fuentes de Invierno and maintained his lead in subsequent flat stages and the final time trial. That final time trial was won by Leipheimer by a wide margin. Contador later took some offense to Leipheimer seemingly riding with winning the Vuelta in mind, after it had been established earlier in the race that Contador was Astana's team leader. In the final standings, Contador finished 46 seconds ahead of Leipheimer and more than four minutes ahead of Sastre. The win made him the fifth cyclist to win all three Grand Tours, after Jacques Anquetil
, Felice Gimondi
, Eddy Merckx
, and Bernard Hinault
. In the process he also became the first Spaniard, youngest (age 25), and shortest amount of time to accumulate all three wins (15 months). He also became only the third cyclist to win the Giro and the Vuelta in the same year, joining Merckx (who did it in 1973) and Giovanni Battaglin
(who did it in 1981).
Later in the year, Contador won the Vélo d'Or
award for the best rider of the year for the second consecutive season. The Giro and Vuelta winner beat Olympic time-trial champion Fabian Cancellara
and Tour winner Carlos Sastre
in a vote by international cycling writers.
announced that he was returning to professional cycling with the express goal of participating in the 2009 Tour de France
. manager Johan Bruyneel
, Armstrong's former mentor and sporting director
, said that he could not allow Armstrong riding for another team and later signed him. The announcement by Armstrong clashed with the ambitions of Contador, who insisted he deserved the leadership of Astana, and hinted at the possibility of leaving the team if he was given a secondary role supporting Armstrong. Contador was later given assurances by Bruyneel that he would remain team leader and decided to remain at Astana for the 2009 season. Contador later claimed the situation was drastically overblown by the media. Contador decided to miss the 2009 Giro d'Italia
to focus on winning the Tour de France.
Contador started his 2009 season at the Volta ao Algarve
race in Portugal, winning the overall classification, placing second on stage 3, and winning the decisive 33 km individual time trial. He was in position to win Paris–Nice again after winning the prologue and the toughest mountain stage, but suffered a breakdown in stage 7, losing his yellow jersey to fellow Spaniard Luis Leon Sánchez
. Contador and his Astana team later blamed the breakdown on Contador eating inadequately, leaving him without the energy to chase attacks. Contador finished fourth overall. Contador continued his build up to the Tour
by racing the Dauphiné Libéré
. He put in a strong performance of the opening time trial and stayed in touch with race leader Cadel Evans
on the longer time trial. However, the strong ride of compatriot Alejandro Valverde
up the Ventoux distanced Contador and he rode to help Valverde take the Yellow Jersey while finishing comfortably in third place overall.
On 26 June 2009, Contador competed in the Time Trial of the Spanish National Championships. He stated that he entered the race in order to gain more experience on his new Trek TT bike, but he came away with a convincing victory over Luis León Sánchez, the defending champion, winning by 37 seconds. This is his first National Championship as a professional.
Contador won Stage 15 of the 2009 Tour de France
by soloing to the finish line more than a minute ahead of most of his closest GC competitors, and in so doing took the general classification leader's yellow jersey. He then extended his lead on Stage 17, after finishing second in a breakaway of three riders with the same time as the stage winner, and then the next day he won the second time trial, increasing his overall advantage to more than four minutes.
Contador won his second Tour de France
on 26 July 2009 with a winning margin of 4'11" over Andy Schleck
. He finished 5'24" ahead of Lance Armstrong
, who finished third in his return to the Tour after a four year absence. Contador has won the last four Grand Tour
races that he has entered. During the celebration at the podium, the organizers of the Tour wrongly played the Danish National Anthem instead of the Spanish Royal March
. In the aftermath of the tour, Contador and Armstrong engaged in a war of words, with Contador quoted as saying that, although Armstrong "is a great rider and [..] did a great Tour[, but] on a personal level [..] I have never admired him and never will", and Armstrong responding that "a champion is also measured on how much he respects his teammates and opponents." The sniping caused others, such as the director of the Tour, to wonder "what it would have been like to have had Contador and Armstrong in different teams."
On 31 July, Contador's agent (who is also his brother) announced that Contador had turned down an offer to remain with Astana under a new four-year contract because he had felt so uncomfortable being caught between the Kazakhstan owners of the team on one side and Bruyneel on the other, and he was hoping to leave Astana at the end of the year, although his contract did not expire until the end of 2010. However, on 11 August, Contador's teammate and close friend Sérgio Paulinho
accepted a two-year contract with Team RadioShack
, indicating that Contador might not be able to leave Astana as readily as he and his agent wished. This was confirmed on 15 August, when a spokesperson for the Kazakhstan sponsors of Astana said that they intended to sponsor the Astana team on the UCI ProTour through 2013 and that they intended to enforce the last year of Contador's contract with Astana in 2010.
, by winning its queen stage and finishing second in the final time trial. Due to new UCI regulations concerning the nose cone of time trial bikes, Contador did not use his Shiv time trial bike, and instead used the standard red Specialized time trial bike. On 14 March, Contador won his second Paris–Nice, finishing ahead of other pre-race favorites like Alejandro Valverde
and Luis León Sánchez
. His main attack came in the mountaintop finish to Mende, where he crossed the finish line alone and successfully secured the yellow jersey. Contador also competed in and concluded the Criterium International with a second place in the final time trial, only 2 seconds behind stage winner David Millar
, while Pierrick Fédrigo
successfully defended the maillot jaune against rivals such as Cadel Evans
and Samuel Sánchez
.
Contador was a favorite coming into the 2010 Tour de France
, along with Team Saxo Bank-SunGard's Andy Schleck
. On Stage 15 Schleck was race leader and pressing the pace over the day's final climb of Port de Bales when he threw his chain
. Contador and Denis Menchov immediately moved to the front and attacked, pressing the advantage over the crest of the climb and all the way back down into Bagneres-de-Luchon. They were aided by Sammy Sanchez and two others making a group of five riders. Schleck chased hard, but had no other riders to help bridge the gap. By stage's end, he had lost the yellow Jersey and 39 seconds to Contador. Contador, who now had an eight second lead in the race, met with a mixed reception as he received the yellow jersey on the podium at the end of the stage. It is an unusual occurrence in the Tour for the new race leader to be met with whistles and cat calls as he is given the yellow jersey. The yellow jersey changing shoulders made a large difference in the remainder of the race, for now the onus was on Schleck to attack Contador, and not the other way around.
Jered Gruber, writing for Velo Nation, argued that Contador was right to attack, defending him on the basis that Schleck did not wait for Contador when he was delayed behind a crash on the cobblestones in stage 3 and lost 1' 13" to Schleck, a crash that cost Schleck the aid of his best ally in the tour, his brother Fränk Schleck
. But of course that was early in the race and neither rider had the yellow jersey at the time. Race commentator Paul Sherwen thought the attack in poor form, whereas his co-commentor Phil Liggett thought not. Schleck said he considered Contador's actions to be unsporting. Hours after the conclusion of the stage, Contador voiced an apology for his behavior on his YouTube channel. Five days later in the stage 19 time trial, Contador beat Schleck again, taking 31 seconds from him. Contador went on to win the Tour de France for the third time with an advantage of 39 seconds over Andy Schleck, the exact amount of time he had taken from Schleck on Stage 15. Contador became the seventh rider to win a Tour de France without winning a stage.
Contador has signed a two-year contract with Team Saxo Bank (Team Saxo Bank-SunGard in the 2011 season) to ride under team manager Bjarne Riis
, who revealed that he would like Contador to try winning all three Grand Tours
in one season, a feat never before accomplished. Contador's agent and brother Fran later countered the statement by saying it was "nothing but a dream". Within two weeks, three of Contador's Spanish teammates signed to make the same transfer: Jesús Hernández, Daniel Navarro
and Benjamín Noval
.
, where he claimed a win on the third stage to Vallnord
, maintaining his advantage until the end of the race. He also won the individual time trial of Vuelta a Castilla y León
.
Contador competed in the 2011 Giro d'Italia
, his first time racing in the Giro since his victory in 2008
. Contador won the ninth stage on Mount Etna
, his first stage win at the Italian Grand Tour. That stage gave him the overall lead in the Giro, as well as the points classification. He also won the 12.7 km (7.9 mi) mountain time-trial to Nevegal. On 29 May, Contador went on to win the race
for the second time. In addition to winning the General Classification, Contador also won the Points Classification and finished second in the Mountains classification.
Despite the fact that he was scheduled to appear before the Court of Arbitration for Sport
in early August, Contador announced in early June he would compete in the 2011 Tour de France
. The CAS had planned to hear the case in early June but the dates were pushed back to early August. Contador aimed to become the first rider to win both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in the same year since Marco Pantani
accomplished the feat in 1998.
In the opening stage Contador got slowed down by a crash and lost more than one minute. He lost additional time in the team time trial
at Les Essarts
but finished second in the fourth stage up to Mûr-de-Bretagne
. Contador suffered four crashes in the opening nine days of the Tour, injuring his right knee before facing the Pyrenees mountain stages. He was dropped in the final kilometer in the stage to Luz Ardiden
and finished two seconds behind Andy Schleck
at the top of the Plateau de Beille
. On the sixteenth stage to Gap
, Contador attacked on the ascent of the Col de Manse, with Cadel Evans
and Samuel Sánchez
joining him in taking a time advantage over the other favorites in the general classification, including more than a minute over Andy Schleck. He was also aggressive in the next stage to Pinerolo
but unable to win time to the other favorites besides Thomas Voeckler
and Ivan Basso
. In the stage to Col du Galibier
he lost time to the other favorites after Andy Schleck launched a solo attack sixty kilometers from the finish and Contador was later unable to follow the pace set by Cadel Evans. Contador launched an early attack on the last mountain stage to Alpe d'Huez
, reaching the top of Galibier with Andy Schleck, but their effort proved unsuccessful and they were captured by the rest of the main contenders following the long descent from the mountain. Contador launched another attack on the first kilometers of Alpe d'Huez but he was eventually beaten to victory by Pierre Rolland with Samuel Sánchez
second. Contador finished fifth in the overall classification, 3 minutes 57 seconds behind Cadel Evans
, bringing an end to his streak of six consecutive Grand Tour
victories.
. Contador and four other members of his team at the time, , were eventually cleared of all charges on 26 July 2006 by the Spanish courts and later two out of the five (including Contador) were cleared by the UCI. Each received a written document signed by Manuel Sánchez Martín, secretary for the Spanish court, stating that "there are not any type of charges against them nor have there been adopted any type of legal action against them."
In May 2006, a document from the summary of the investigation (Documento 31) was released. In it, Contador's initials (A.C.) were associated with a hand-written note saying, "Nada o igual a J.J." (Spanish for "Nothing or like J.J."). J.J. were the initials of Jörg Jaksche
, who later admitted to being guilty of blood doping
prepared by the Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes
in 2005. Contador was questioned in December 2006 by the magistrate in charge of the Puerto file. The rider declared to Judge Antonio Serrano that he did not know Eufemanio Fuentes personally. According to French daily Le Monde
, he refused then to undergo a DNA test that would have judged whether or not he had any link to the blood bags that were found in the investigation.
On 28 July 2007, Le Monde, citing what it claimed was an investigation file to which it had access, stated that Contador's name appeared in several documents found during Operación Puerto. A second reference includes initials of riders’ names that appeared on another training document, although neither of those two references could be linked to doping practices.
On 30 July 2007, German doping expert Werner Franke
accused Contador of having taken drugs in the past and being prescribed a doping regimen by Fuentes, who was connected with Operación Puerto. He passed his allegations on to the German authorities on 31 July 2007. Contador denied the accusations, saying
"I was in the wrong team at the wrong time and somehow my name got among the documents." On 10 August, Contador publicly declared himself to be a clean rider in face of suspicions about his alleged links to the Operación Puerto blood doping ring.
, former Tour champion Greg LeMond
wrote a column for Le Monde
in which he noted that Contador's time up Verbier
was the fastest climb in the history of the Tour, which LeMond claimed would require a level of oxygen transport (VO2) "that has never been achieved by any athlete in any sport," and demanded that Contador prove that he was capable of that level of aerobic ability "without falling back to the use of performance enhancing products." At a press conference later that day, Contador refused to answer questions about the article. Subsequently, other experts disagreed with the calculations in LeMond's article, which were done by French physiology professor Antoine Vayer, who was a trainer for the Festina cycling team
until the Festina affair
in 1998. Two physiologists claimed Vayer's assumptions overstate the needed level of oxygen transport, and that the level Contador needed, while "still quite high," is "not so high that you can definitively state that it can only be achieved via doping." A third, who noted that Vayer is the leading expert in this field and "more than anyone, knows how to look at a climb in context", nevertheless also questioned Vayer's assumptions.
, had contained traces of clenbuterol
. He has stated, due to the number of other tests he passed and that only a tiny amount of the substance was detected in the one he failed, that food contamination was to blame. Aiding credibility to the explanation, anti-doping doctor Don Catlin
said that of the contaminants found in food supplements, clenbuterol is one of the more common. However, when asked if it was plausible that Contador had ingested the clenbuterol through contamination, Catlin said "without knowing what the level in his sample is, it's impossible to say." Contador stated that he is the victim, and he can "hold his head high" and that he thinks he should not be punished. Several people related to the sport said that there is little benefit from using the drug, especially in the amounts that were discovered.
There has been some skepticism of Contador's claim that contaminated meat was to blame. In 2008 and 2009, only one animal sample came back positive for clenbuterol out of 83,203 animal samples tested by EU member nations. Out of 19,431 animal tests in Spain over the same period, there were no samples that came back positive for clenbuterol.
Contador's urine sample, taken during the day before his clenbuterol positive sample, was reported to contain plastic residue indicating possible blood doping
, but the test is not recognised by the World Anti-Doping Agency
, so no charges in relation to this finding were brought. A theory has circulated that blood doping could account for the minute traces if the clenbuterol was introduced through a transfusion of already contaminated blood, rather than ingestion or injection.
The UCI issued a statement reporting that the concentration was 50 picograms per millilitre, and that this was 400 times below the minimum standards of detection capability required by WADA
, and that further scientific investigation would be required. Contador was provisionally suspended from competition, although this had no short-term effect as he had already finished his racing programme for the 2010 season.
Contador had been informed of the results over a month earlier, on 24 August. Later the amount discovered was clarified as 40 times below the minimum standards, rather than the 400 times originally reported by the UCI. Contador's scientific adviser claimed that he would have needed 180 times the amount detected to gain any benefit in his performance.
In late January 2011, the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC
) proposed a one year ban, but it subsequently accepted Contador's appeal and cleared him of all charges. Contador returned to racing in February in the Volta ao Algarve
, a race he won in 2009 and 2010. The UCI and the World Anti-Doping Agency
each appealed the RFEC decision independently to the Court of Arbitration for Sport
in March 2011, but he remains free to ride until their ruling is published. The hearing with CAS was initially scheduled for June, but following an extension requested by Contador's legal team, it was rearranged for August, In the week following the 2011 Tour de France
and later postponed again until November 2011.
2004 –
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2007 Tour de France
The 2007 Tour de France, the 94th running of the race, took place from 7 July to 29 July 2007. The Tour began with a prologue in London, and ended with the traditional finish in Paris. Along the way, the route also passed through Belgium and Spain...
with the team. With the Astana team he has won the 2008 Giro d'Italia
2008 Giro d'Italia
The 2008 Giro d'Italia was the 91st running of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It began in Palermo on 10 May and ended in Milan on 1 June. Twenty-two teams entered the race, which was won by Spaniard Alberto Contador of the cycling team...
, the 2008 Vuelta a España
2008 Vuelta a España
The 2008 Vuelta a España was the 63rd edition of the Vuelta a España, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The event took place from 30 August to 21 September 2008 over 21 stages covering . The first stage was a team time trial in Granada. The event finished in Madrid 23 days later...
, the 2009 Tour de France
2009 Tour de France
The 2009 Tour de France was the 96th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on 4 July in the principality of Monaco with a individual time trial which included a section of the Circuit de Monaco...
, the 2010 Tour de France
2010 Tour de France
The 2010 Tour de France was the 97th edition of the Tour de France cycle race, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on with an 8.9 km prologue time trial in Rotterdam, the first start in the Netherlands since 1996...
and won 2011 Giro d'Italia
2011 Giro d'Italia
The 2011 Giro d'Italia was the 94th edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Giro started on 7 May with a team time trial in Turin to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Italian unification, when the city served as the first capital of the single state.The route was...
with team Saxo Bank-SunGard. He is the fifth racer in history, and the first Spaniard, to win all three Grand Tours
Grand Tour (cycling)
In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour refers to one of the three major European professional cycling stage races:* Tour de France – Tour of France , held in July* Giro d'Italia – Tour of Italy , held in May...
of road cycling.
Contador is widely considered to be the best climbing specialist and stage racer in the world. Notable summit stage finishes on which he has victories include the Alto de El Angliru
Alto de El Angliru
Alto del Angliru is a steep mountain road in Asturias, near La Vega-Riosa, in northern Spain. It is one of the most demanding climbs in professional road bicycle racing...
in the Vuelta, the Plateau de Beille
Plateau de Beille
Plateau de Beille is a ski resort in the Pyrenees. It is situated in the Ariège department, in the Midi-Pyrénées. The winter sports station lies at a height of 1790 meters....
in the Tour and Mount Etna
Mount Etna
Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina and Catania. It is the tallest active volcano in Europe, currently standing high, though this varies with summit eruptions; the mountain is 21 m higher than it was in 1981.. It is the highest mountain in...
in the Giro . After being widely expected to lose his tenuous lead in the 2007 Tour de France in that race's final individual time trial
Individual time trial
An individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...
, Contador has become a more accomplished time trialist, with several victories in the discipline. He has earned a reputation as an all-rounder, a cyclist who excels in all aspects of stage racing which are needed for high places in the general classification
General Classification
The general classification in bicycle racing is the category that tracks overall times for bicycle riders in multi-stage bicycle races...
.
Contador's career has been marked by occasional doping allegations, the foremost of which, the Operación Puerto doping case
Operación Puerto doping case
Operación Puerto is the code name of a Spanish Police operation against the doping network of Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, started in May 2006, which resulted in a scandal that involved several of the world most famous cyclists at the time.Media attention has focused on the small number of...
, led his team (a team unrelated in composition to the current Astana team, despite the same sponsor) to withdraw en masse from the 2006 Tour de France
2006 Tour de France
The 2006 Tour de France was the 93rd Tour de France, taking place from July 1 to July 23, 2006. It was won by Óscar Pereiro following the disqualification of apparent winner Floyd Landis....
before it began. He was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing, but was also accused of doping after his victory in the race the following year. In September 2010, Contador announced that he had tested positive for clenbuterol
Clenbuterol
Clenbuterol is a sympathomimetic amine used by sufferers of breathing disorders as a decongestant and bronchodilator. People with chronic breathing disorders such as asthma use this as a bronchodilator to make breathing easier...
in a control taken during that year's Tour de France, but although he was suspended during an investigation,
he was cleared by the Spanish cycling federation. A review by the Court of Arbitration for Sport
Court of Arbitration for Sport
The Court of Arbitration for Sport is an international arbitration body set up to settle disputes related to sport. Its headquarters are in Lausanne and its courts are located in New York, Sydney and Lausanne, Switzerland...
initially set for June 2011 was later deferred until November 2011.
Personal life and early career
Contador was born in PintoPinto, Madrid
Pinto is a town in the south of the autonomous community of Madrid, central Spain.Formerly, the belief was that Pinto sat on the geographic middle of the Iberian Peninsula, hence its name comes from the Latin Punctum, "point".-Limits:...
in the Community of Madrid, the third of four children. He has an older brother and sister and a younger brother, who has cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term encompassing a group of non-progressive, non-contagious motor conditions that cause physical disability in human development, chiefly in the various areas of body movement....
. Having previously practiced other sports, such as football and athletics, Contador discovered cycling at the age of 14 thanks to his elder brother Francisco Javier.
When Contador was 15, he began to compete in races at the amateur level in Spain, joining the Real Velo Club Portillo from Madrid. Although he got no victories that year or the next, he demonstrated great qualities and was soon nicknamed Pantani (after Marco Pantani
Marco Pantani
Marco Pantani was an Italian road racing cyclist, widely considered one of the best climbers in professional road bicycle racing...
, regarded as one of the best climbers of all time) for his climbing skills. In 2000, he experienced his first victories, winning several mountains classification prizes from prominent events on the Spanish amateur cycling calendar.
He dropped out of school at the age of 16 without having finished his Bachillerato and signed with Iberdrola-Loinaz, a youth team run by Manolo Saiz
Manolo Saiz
Manuel "Manolo" Saiz Balbás is the former team manager of one of the most successful Spanish professional road bicycle racing teams, first called Team ONCE, then Liberty Seguros-Würth, Astana-Würth, and lastly Astana Team.Saiz was a hands-on manager and directeur sportif...
, manager of the professional ONCE cycling team
ONCE cycling team
ONCE cycling team, also known as Liberty Seguros, Liberty Seguros-Würth and in succession in its final year, Astana-Würth and Astana was a Spanish cycling team. It competed in the UCI ProTour circuit....
. In 2001, he won the under-23 Spanish time trial championship.
Contador lives with his wife Macarena in the city of Pinto when not competing, and enjoys hunting in his spare time. He has a fascination for birds, keeping personally bred canaries and goldfinches at home.
ONCE/Liberty Seguros (2004–2006)
Contador turned professional in 2003 for ONCE-EroskiONCE cycling team
ONCE cycling team, also known as Liberty Seguros, Liberty Seguros-Würth and in succession in its final year, Astana-Würth and Astana was a Spanish cycling team. It competed in the UCI ProTour circuit....
. In his first year as a professional he won the eighth stage of the Tour de Pologne
Tour de Pologne
The Tour de Pologne is a road bicycle racing stage race. It consists of seven or eight stages and is usually around 1,200 km in length. The race was first held in 1928. Until 1952 the race was held sporadically, but since then it has been an annual race...
, an individual time trial. During the first stage of the 2004 Vuelta a Asturias
Vuelta a Asturias
Vuelta a Asturias is a professional cycle road race held in Spain in early May each year. The event was first run in 1925 but has not been held consistently until 1968 to present. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour...
he started to feel unwell, and after 40 kilometers he fell and went into convulsions. He had been suffering from headaches for several days beforehand and was diagnosed with a cerebral cavernoma, a congenital vascular disorder, for which he underwent risky surgery and a recovery to get back on his bike. As a result of the surgery, he has a scar that runs from one ear to the other over the top of his head. Contador started to train again at the end of 2004 and eight months after the surgery he won the fifth stage of the 2005 Tour Down Under
Tour Down Under
The Tour Down Under is a cycling race in Adelaide, South Australia and surrounding area. The race starts on the third Tuesday of January each year and attracts riders from across Australia and the world. In 2005, the Tour Down Under was promoted by the Union Cycliste Internationale to the...
racing for Liberty Seguros, as the team previously known as ONCE had become. He went on to win the third stage and the overall classification of the Setmana Catalana, thus winning his first stage race as a professional. He also won an individual time trial during the Vuelta al País Vasco, where he finished third, and the fourth stage of the Tour de Romandie, where he finished fourth overall.
In 2006, he won stages at the Tour de Romandie and Tour de Suisse in preparation for the Tour de France
2006 Tour de France
The 2006 Tour de France was the 93rd Tour de France, taking place from July 1 to July 23, 2006. It was won by Óscar Pereiro following the disqualification of apparent winner Floyd Landis....
. Prior to the start of the race he was implicated along with several teammates in the Operación Puerto doping case
Operación Puerto doping case
Operación Puerto is the code name of a Spanish Police operation against the doping network of Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, started in May 2006, which resulted in a scandal that involved several of the world most famous cyclists at the time.Media attention has focused on the small number of...
by the Spanish authorities, and the team was not able to start. He was later cleared by the Union Cycliste Internationale
Union Cycliste Internationale
Union Cycliste Internationale is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland....
, cycling's governing body
Sport governing body
A sport governing body is a sports organization that has a regulatory or sanctioning function. Sport governing bodies come in various forms, and have a variety of regulatory functions. Examples of this can include disciplinary action for rule infractions and deciding on rule changes in the sport...
. Contador returned to racing in the Vuelta a Burgos
Vuelta a Burgos
Vuelta Ciclista a Burgos is an elite men's professional road bicycle racing event held annually in the Burgos province of Spain. Since 2005, Vuelta a Burgos has been a multi-day stage race as part of the UCI Europe Tour.-Palmarés:...
but he crashed after finishing fifth in stage 4, when he was riding back down to the team bus, and briefly lost consciousness.
2007 season
After having been implicated in the Operación Puerto doping caseOperación Puerto doping case
Operación Puerto is the code name of a Spanish Police operation against the doping network of Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, started in May 2006, which resulted in a scandal that involved several of the world most famous cyclists at the time.Media attention has focused on the small number of...
, Contador was without a professional contract until mid-January 2007, when he signed with .
Davide Rebellin
Davide Rebellin is an Italian road bicycle racer, currently riding for the Italian Miche-Guerciotti team. He served a 2-year suspension for testing positive for Mircera at the 2008 Olympic Games...
's Gerolsteiner
Team Gerolsteiner
Gerolsteiner was a German road bicycle racing team in the UCI ProTour. It was sponsored by the mineral water company Gerolsteiner Brunnen and Specialized....
team, allowing Contador to launch an attack on the final climb. With Rebellin leading the chase, Contador held off his competitors in the final kilometers, winning him the race.
In the 2007 Tour de France
2007 Tour de France
The 2007 Tour de France, the 94th running of the race, took place from 7 July to 29 July 2007. The Tour began with a prologue in London, and ended with the traditional finish in Paris. Along the way, the route also passed through Belgium and Spain...
, he won a stage at the mountaintop finish of Plateau-de-Beille, and was second in the general classification to Michael Rasmussen
Michael Rasmussen
Michael Rasmussen is a Danish professional road bicycle racer who rides for the Danish team Christina Watches-Onfone. In the 2007 Tour de France, Rasmussen, while in the yellow jersey, had his contract terminated by his team and was removed from the Tour...
. Upon Rasmussen's removal from the race before stage 17 for lying to his team about his pre-race training whereabouts, Contador assumed the overall lead and the yellow jersey, though he did not don it until after the stage. In the stage 19 individual time trial, he managed to defy expectations and keep hold of the yellow jersey by a margin of only 23 seconds over challenger Cadel Evans
Cadel Evans
Cadel Lee Evans is an Australian professional racing cyclist and winner of the 2011 Tour de France. Early in his career, Evans was a champion mountain biker, winning the World Cup in 1998 and 1999 and placing seventh in the men's cross-country mountain bike race at the 2000 Summer Olympics in...
and 31 seconds over teammate Levi Leipheimer
Levi Leipheimer
Levi Leipheimer is an American professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team . His major results are winning the 2007–2009 editions of the Tour of California, the 2006 Dauphiné Libéré and the 2005 Deutschland Tour, coming in second in the 2008 Vuelta a España, third in the 2001 Vuelta a...
. As this was the Tour's penultimate stage, it was the last real competition of the race (since the final stage is traditionally non-competitive save for a bunched sprint to the finish line) and it secured Contador his first Tour de France victory. It is the closest the top three finishers in the Tour de France have ever finished to one another.
After Discovery Channel announced 2007 would be its final season in professional cycling, Contador announced on 23 October 2007 that he would move to the Astana
Astana Team
Astana is a professional road bicycle racing team sponsored by the Astana group, a coalition of state-owned companies from Kazakhstan and named after its capital city Astana. Astana attained UCI ProTeam status in its inaugural year, 2007...
team for 2008.
2008 season
Amaury Sport Organisation
The Amaury Sport Organisation is part of the French media group, EPA . It organises sporting events including the Tour de France and Paris–Nice professional cycle road races, and the Dakar Rally...
, announced that Astana would not be invited to any of their events in 2008 due to the doping previously perpetrated by Astana, despite the fact that its management and most of its ridership had changed before the 2008 season. Consequently, Contador was unable to defend his 2007 Paris–Nice and 2007 Tour de France
2007 Tour de France
The 2007 Tour de France, the 94th running of the race, took place from 7 July to 29 July 2007. The Tour began with a prologue in London, and ended with the traditional finish in Paris. Along the way, the route also passed through Belgium and Spain...
victories. He went on to win his second Vuelta a Castilla y León
Vuelta a Castilla y León
The Vuelta Ciclista a Castilla y León is a professional road bicycle stage race held in Castile and León, Spain. Since 2005, Vuelta a Castilla y León has been a part of the UCI Europe Tour.-Past winners:-External links:*...
, as well as the Vuelta al País Vasco
2008 Vuelta al País Vasco
The 2008 Vuelta al País Vasco, the 65th edition of the Vuelta al País Vasco stage cycling race, took place from April 7 to April 12, 2008. It was won by Spanish rider Alberto Contador of .-General classification:...
by winning the opening stage and the final individual time trial. His next scheduled race and objective was the Dauphiné Libéré but his team received an invite to the 2008 Giro d'Italia
2008 Giro d'Italia
The 2008 Giro d'Italia was the 91st running of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It began in Palermo on 10 May and ended in Milan on 1 June. Twenty-two teams entered the race, which was won by Spaniard Alberto Contador of the cycling team...
one week prior to the start of the race. Contador was on a beach in Spain when he was told he was going to ride the Giro.
Pavel Tonkov
Pavel Sergeyevich Tonkov is a former professional road racing cyclist from Russia. His talents were first showcased when winning the world junior title as part of the Soviet Union team in 1987. This alerted the world to his talents and he turned pro in 1992 with the RUSS-Baïkal team. His biggest...
in 1996
1996 Giro d'Italia
The 1996 Giro d'Italia of cycling, the 79th edition of the Corsa Rosa, was held from 18 May to 9 June 1996. It covered a total of 3,990 km, in 22 stages, completed at an average speed of 37.877 km/h...
and also the second Spanish rider to win the Giro after Miguel Indurain
Miguel Indurain
Miguel Ángel Indurain Larraya is a retired Spanish road racing cyclist. He won five consecutive Tour de Frances from 1991 and 1995, the first to do so, and the fourth athlete to win five times. He won the Giro d'Italia twice, becoming one of only seven people in history to achieve the Giro Tour...
won in 1992
1992 Giro d'Italia
The 1992 Giro d'Italia of cycling, the 75th edition of the race, was held from 24 May to 14 June 1992. It covered a total of 3,835 km, in 22 stages, completed at an average speed of 37.017 km/h...
and 1993
1993 Giro d'Italia
The 1993 Giro d'Italia of cycling, the 76th edition of the race, was held from 23 May to 13 June 1993, consisting of 22 stages. It covered a total of 3,703 km, completed at an average speed of 37.723 km/h...
. He later emphasized the importance of this win by saying that "taking part in the Giro and winning it was a really big achievement, bigger than if I'd had a second victory in the Tour de France".
At the 2008 Summer Olympic Games
Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Cycling competitions at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics were held from August 9 to August 23 at the Laoshan Velodrome , Laoshan Mountain Bike Course, Laoshan BMX Field and the Beijing Cycling Road Course...
, Contador competed in the road race and the individual road time trial. He did not finish in the road race, in which 53 of the 143 starters did not complete the course in particularly hot and humid conditions. He placed fourth in the individual time trial, eight seconds behind his regular teammate Leipheimer.
Contador entered the 2008 Vuelta a España
2008 Vuelta a España
The 2008 Vuelta a España was the 63rd edition of the Vuelta a España, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The event took place from 30 August to 21 September 2008 over 21 stages covering . The first stage was a team time trial in Granada. The event finished in Madrid 23 days later...
as the main candidate to win. His biggest challenger was likely to be compatriot Carlos Sastre
Carlos Sastre
Carlos Sastre Candil is a retired Spanish professional road bicycle racer and champion of the 2008 Tour de France. Sastre rides in 2011 for UCI Professional Continental team...
, who had won the Tour de France
2008 Tour de France
The 2008 Tour de France was the 95th Tour de France. The event took place from 5–27 July 2008. Starting in the French city of Brest, the tour entered Italy on the 15th stage and returned to France during the 16th, heading for Paris, its regular final destination, which was reached in the 21st stage...
just a month before. Contador won stage 13 by attacking on the fabled Angliru
Alto de El Angliru
Alto del Angliru is a steep mountain road in Asturias, near La Vega-Riosa, in northern Spain. It is one of the most demanding climbs in professional road bicycle racing...
climb and this resulted in him capturing the golden jersey as the leader of the race. He extended his lead by winning stage 14 to Fuentes de Invierno and maintained his lead in subsequent flat stages and the final time trial. That final time trial was won by Leipheimer by a wide margin. Contador later took some offense to Leipheimer seemingly riding with winning the Vuelta in mind, after it had been established earlier in the race that Contador was Astana's team leader. In the final standings, Contador finished 46 seconds ahead of Leipheimer and more than four minutes ahead of Sastre. The win made him the fifth cyclist to win all three Grand Tours, after Jacques Anquetil
Jacques Anquetil
Jacques Anquetil was a French road racing cyclist and the first cyclist to win the Tour de France five times, in 1957 and from 1961 to 1964...
, Felice Gimondi
Felice Gimondi
Felice Gimondi is an Italian former professional racing cyclist.With his 1968 victory at the Vuelta a España, only three years after becoming a professional cyclist, Gimondi, nicknamed "The Phoenix", was the second cyclist to win all three Grand Tours of road cycling: Tour de France , Giro...
, Eddy Merckx
Eddy Merckx
Edouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx , better known as Eddy Merckx, is a Belgian former professional cyclist. The French magazine Vélo called him "the most accomplished rider that cycling has ever known." The American publication, VeloNews, called him the greatest and most successful cyclist of all...
, and Bernard Hinault
Bernard Hinault
Bernard Hinault is a former French cyclist known for five victories in the Tour de France. He is one of only five cyclists to have won all three Grand Tours, and the only cyclist to have won each more than once. He won the Tour de France in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1985...
. In the process he also became the first Spaniard, youngest (age 25), and shortest amount of time to accumulate all three wins (15 months). He also became only the third cyclist to win the Giro and the Vuelta in the same year, joining Merckx (who did it in 1973) and Giovanni Battaglin
Giovanni Battaglin
Giovanni Battaglin is an Italian professional road racing cyclist. The highlight of his career was his overall win in the 1981 Giro d'Italia. He also won the 1981 Vuelta a España.-Early years:...
(who did it in 1981).
Later in the year, Contador won the Vélo d'Or
Vélo d'Or
The "" is a cycle racing award, created in 1992 by the French cycling magazine Vélo Magazine. Vélo d'or is widely regarded as the most prestigious individual award in cycling. The award is given annually to the rider considered to have performed the best over the year.Lance Armstrong holds the...
award for the best rider of the year for the second consecutive season. The Giro and Vuelta winner beat Olympic time-trial champion Fabian Cancellara
Fabian Cancellara
Fabian Cancellara is a Swiss professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam . A time trial specialist, he is a four-time World Time Trial Champion and is the current Olympic gold medalist...
and Tour winner Carlos Sastre
Carlos Sastre
Carlos Sastre Candil is a retired Spanish professional road bicycle racer and champion of the 2008 Tour de France. Sastre rides in 2011 for UCI Professional Continental team...
in a vote by international cycling writers.
2009 season
On 9 September 2008, the seven-time Tour de France winner Lance ArmstrongLance Armstrong
Lance Edward Armstrong is an American former professional road racing cyclist who won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times, after having survived testicular cancer. He is also the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research and support...
announced that he was returning to professional cycling with the express goal of participating in the 2009 Tour de France
2009 Tour de France
The 2009 Tour de France was the 96th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on 4 July in the principality of Monaco with a individual time trial which included a section of the Circuit de Monaco...
. manager Johan Bruyneel
Johan Bruyneel
Johan Bruyneel is a former road bicycle racer in professional cycling and a directeur sportif for UCI ProTour team . Retiring from racing in 1998, he became director of , a US-based UCI ProTour cycling team...
, Armstrong's former mentor and sporting director
Directeur sportif
A directeur sportif is a person directing a cycling team during a road bicycle racing event...
, said that he could not allow Armstrong riding for another team and later signed him. The announcement by Armstrong clashed with the ambitions of Contador, who insisted he deserved the leadership of Astana, and hinted at the possibility of leaving the team if he was given a secondary role supporting Armstrong. Contador was later given assurances by Bruyneel that he would remain team leader and decided to remain at Astana for the 2009 season. Contador later claimed the situation was drastically overblown by the media. Contador decided to miss the 2009 Giro d'Italia
2009 Giro d'Italia
The 2009 Giro d'Italia was the 92nd running of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It was held from 9 to 31 May 2009, and marked the 100th year since the first edition of the race...
to focus on winning the Tour de France.
Contador started his 2009 season at the Volta ao Algarve
Volta ao Algarve
The Volta ao Algarve is a road bicycle racing stage race held annually in the Algarve, Portugal. Since 2005, it has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. Due to its early February position in the European calendar, it is used by many riders to prepare for the Spring...
race in Portugal, winning the overall classification, placing second on stage 3, and winning the decisive 33 km individual time trial. He was in position to win Paris–Nice again after winning the prologue and the toughest mountain stage, but suffered a breakdown in stage 7, losing his yellow jersey to fellow Spaniard Luis Leon Sánchez
Luis León Sánchez
Luis León Sánchez Gil is a Spanish road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam . He is also known as Lulu Sanchez. He rode for team Liberty Seguros-Würth from 2004 until 2006, when he moved to the Caisse d'Epargne team following the collapse of the Liberty Seguros-Würth team in the wake of the Operación...
. Contador and his Astana team later blamed the breakdown on Contador eating inadequately, leaving him without the energy to chase attacks. Contador finished fourth overall. Contador continued his build up to the Tour
2009 Tour de France
The 2009 Tour de France was the 96th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on 4 July in the principality of Monaco with a individual time trial which included a section of the Circuit de Monaco...
by racing the Dauphiné Libéré
2009 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
The 2009 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré was the 61st edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré stage race. It took place from 7 June to 14 June, and was part of both the 2009 UCI ProTour and the inaugural World Calendar. It began in Nancy, France with an individual time trial, and ended in Grenoble...
. He put in a strong performance of the opening time trial and stayed in touch with race leader Cadel Evans
Cadel Evans
Cadel Lee Evans is an Australian professional racing cyclist and winner of the 2011 Tour de France. Early in his career, Evans was a champion mountain biker, winning the World Cup in 1998 and 1999 and placing seventh in the men's cross-country mountain bike race at the 2000 Summer Olympics in...
on the longer time trial. However, the strong ride of compatriot Alejandro Valverde
Alejandro Valverde
Alejandro Valverde Belmonte is a Spanish road racing cyclist currently under suspension. He last rode for UCI ProTour team . Valverde's biggest wins have been the 2009 Vuelta a España, the Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2006, 2008 and 2006 UCI ProTour series championship...
up the Ventoux distanced Contador and he rode to help Valverde take the Yellow Jersey while finishing comfortably in third place overall.
Contador won Stage 15 of the 2009 Tour de France
2009 Tour de France
The 2009 Tour de France was the 96th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on 4 July in the principality of Monaco with a individual time trial which included a section of the Circuit de Monaco...
by soloing to the finish line more than a minute ahead of most of his closest GC competitors, and in so doing took the general classification leader's yellow jersey. He then extended his lead on Stage 17, after finishing second in a breakaway of three riders with the same time as the stage winner, and then the next day he won the second time trial, increasing his overall advantage to more than four minutes.
Contador won his second Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
on 26 July 2009 with a winning margin of 4'11" over Andy Schleck
Andy Schleck
Andy Raymond Schleck is a Luxembourgish professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team . He is the younger brother of Fränk Schleck, who also rides for . Their father Johny Schleck rode the Tour de France and Vuelta a España between 1965 and 1974...
. He finished 5'24" ahead of Lance Armstrong
Lance Armstrong
Lance Edward Armstrong is an American former professional road racing cyclist who won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times, after having survived testicular cancer. He is also the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research and support...
, who finished third in his return to the Tour after a four year absence. Contador has won the last four Grand Tour
Grand Tour (cycling)
In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour refers to one of the three major European professional cycling stage races:* Tour de France – Tour of France , held in July* Giro d'Italia – Tour of Italy , held in May...
races that he has entered. During the celebration at the podium, the organizers of the Tour wrongly played the Danish National Anthem instead of the Spanish Royal March
Marcha Real
is the national anthem of Spain. It is one of the few national anthems in the world to have no official lyrics ....
. In the aftermath of the tour, Contador and Armstrong engaged in a war of words, with Contador quoted as saying that, although Armstrong "is a great rider and [..] did a great Tour[, but] on a personal level [..] I have never admired him and never will", and Armstrong responding that "a champion is also measured on how much he respects his teammates and opponents." The sniping caused others, such as the director of the Tour, to wonder "what it would have been like to have had Contador and Armstrong in different teams."
On 31 July, Contador's agent (who is also his brother) announced that Contador had turned down an offer to remain with Astana under a new four-year contract because he had felt so uncomfortable being caught between the Kazakhstan owners of the team on one side and Bruyneel on the other, and he was hoping to leave Astana at the end of the year, although his contract did not expire until the end of 2010. However, on 11 August, Contador's teammate and close friend Sérgio Paulinho
Sérgio Paulinho
Sérgio Miguel Moreira Paulinho is a Portuguese road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team . He was a domestique in the 2007, 2009 and 2010 Tour de France....
accepted a two-year contract with Team RadioShack
Team RadioShack
Team RadioShack is a professional road bicycle racing team, with RadioShack as the title sponsor, the creation of which was announced on July 23, 2009. Lance Armstrong co-owns and leads the team, which plans to race in the Grand Tours and the UCI ProTour, as well as running and triathlon events...
, indicating that Contador might not be able to leave Astana as readily as he and his agent wished. This was confirmed on 15 August, when a spokesperson for the Kazakhstan sponsors of Astana said that they intended to sponsor the Astana team on the UCI ProTour through 2013 and that they intended to enforce the last year of Contador's contract with Astana in 2010.
2010 season
On 21 February, Contador won his first race of the season, the Volta ao Algarve2010 Volta ao Algarve
The 2010 Volta ao Algarve was the 36th edition of the Volta ao Algarve cycling stage race. It was held from 17–21 February 2010, and was rated as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour...
, by winning its queen stage and finishing second in the final time trial. Due to new UCI regulations concerning the nose cone of time trial bikes, Contador did not use his Shiv time trial bike, and instead used the standard red Specialized time trial bike. On 14 March, Contador won his second Paris–Nice, finishing ahead of other pre-race favorites like Alejandro Valverde
Alejandro Valverde
Alejandro Valverde Belmonte is a Spanish road racing cyclist currently under suspension. He last rode for UCI ProTour team . Valverde's biggest wins have been the 2009 Vuelta a España, the Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2006, 2008 and 2006 UCI ProTour series championship...
and Luis León Sánchez
Luis León Sánchez
Luis León Sánchez Gil is a Spanish road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam . He is also known as Lulu Sanchez. He rode for team Liberty Seguros-Würth from 2004 until 2006, when he moved to the Caisse d'Epargne team following the collapse of the Liberty Seguros-Würth team in the wake of the Operación...
. His main attack came in the mountaintop finish to Mende, where he crossed the finish line alone and successfully secured the yellow jersey. Contador also competed in and concluded the Criterium International with a second place in the final time trial, only 2 seconds behind stage winner David Millar
David Millar
David Millar is a British road racing cyclist riding for . He has won three stages of the Tour de France, two of the Vuelta a España and one Stage of the Giro d'Italia. He was the British national road champion and the national time trial champion, both in 2007...
, while Pierrick Fédrigo
Pierrick Fédrigo
Pierrick Fédrigo is a French racing cyclist who rides for . He was the French national road champion in 2005 and won Stage 14 of the 2006 Tour de France in Gap, Stage 9 of the 2009 Tour de France in Tarbes, and Stage 16 of the 2010 Tour de France in Pau...
successfully defended the maillot jaune against rivals such as Cadel Evans
Cadel Evans
Cadel Lee Evans is an Australian professional racing cyclist and winner of the 2011 Tour de France. Early in his career, Evans was a champion mountain biker, winning the World Cup in 1998 and 1999 and placing seventh in the men's cross-country mountain bike race at the 2000 Summer Olympics in...
and Samuel Sánchez
Samuel Sánchez
Samuel Sánchez González is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer. He was the gold medal winner in the 2008 Beijing Olympics Men's Road Race. In recent years Sánchez has proven himself in hilly classics and stage races as one of the most important riders in the peloton...
.
Contador was a favorite coming into the 2010 Tour de France
2010 Tour de France
The 2010 Tour de France was the 97th edition of the Tour de France cycle race, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on with an 8.9 km prologue time trial in Rotterdam, the first start in the Netherlands since 1996...
, along with Team Saxo Bank-SunGard's Andy Schleck
Andy Schleck
Andy Raymond Schleck is a Luxembourgish professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team . He is the younger brother of Fränk Schleck, who also rides for . Their father Johny Schleck rode the Tour de France and Vuelta a España between 1965 and 1974...
. On Stage 15 Schleck was race leader and pressing the pace over the day's final climb of Port de Bales when he threw his chain
Bicycle chain
A bicycle chain is a roller chain that transfers power from the pedals to the drive-wheel of a bicycle, thus propelling it. Most bicycle chains are made from plain carbon or alloy steel, but some are nickel-plated to prevent rust, or simply for aesthetics. Nickel also confers a measure of...
. Contador and Denis Menchov immediately moved to the front and attacked, pressing the advantage over the crest of the climb and all the way back down into Bagneres-de-Luchon. They were aided by Sammy Sanchez and two others making a group of five riders. Schleck chased hard, but had no other riders to help bridge the gap. By stage's end, he had lost the yellow Jersey and 39 seconds to Contador. Contador, who now had an eight second lead in the race, met with a mixed reception as he received the yellow jersey on the podium at the end of the stage. It is an unusual occurrence in the Tour for the new race leader to be met with whistles and cat calls as he is given the yellow jersey. The yellow jersey changing shoulders made a large difference in the remainder of the race, for now the onus was on Schleck to attack Contador, and not the other way around.
Jered Gruber, writing for Velo Nation, argued that Contador was right to attack, defending him on the basis that Schleck did not wait for Contador when he was delayed behind a crash on the cobblestones in stage 3 and lost 1' 13" to Schleck, a crash that cost Schleck the aid of his best ally in the tour, his brother Fränk Schleck
Fränk Schleck
Fränk René Schleck is a Luxembourgish professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam . At the start of 2005, Schleck was joined by his younger brother Andy on , and they split the 2005 national championships between them, with Fränk winning the road race and Andy winning the time trial...
. But of course that was early in the race and neither rider had the yellow jersey at the time. Race commentator Paul Sherwen thought the attack in poor form, whereas his co-commentor Phil Liggett thought not. Schleck said he considered Contador's actions to be unsporting. Hours after the conclusion of the stage, Contador voiced an apology for his behavior on his YouTube channel. Five days later in the stage 19 time trial, Contador beat Schleck again, taking 31 seconds from him. Contador went on to win the Tour de France for the third time with an advantage of 39 seconds over Andy Schleck, the exact amount of time he had taken from Schleck on Stage 15. Contador became the seventh rider to win a Tour de France without winning a stage.
Contador has signed a two-year contract with Team Saxo Bank (Team Saxo Bank-SunGard in the 2011 season) to ride under team manager Bjarne Riis
Bjarne Riis
Bjarne Lykkegård Riis , nicknamed The Eagle from Herning , is a Danish former professional road bicycle racer who placed first in the 1996 Tour de France, and is now the team owner and manager of Danish UCI ProTour outfit Team Saxo Bank Sungard...
, who revealed that he would like Contador to try winning all three Grand Tours
Grand Tour (cycling)
In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour refers to one of the three major European professional cycling stage races:* Tour de France – Tour of France , held in July* Giro d'Italia – Tour of Italy , held in May...
in one season, a feat never before accomplished. Contador's agent and brother Fran later countered the statement by saying it was "nothing but a dream". Within two weeks, three of Contador's Spanish teammates signed to make the same transfer: Jesús Hernández, Daniel Navarro
Daniel Navarro
Daniel Navarro García is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam .- Palmares :20072009- External links :...
and Benjamín Noval
Benjamín Noval
Benjamín Noval González is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam . Noval turned professional in 2001, riding for Relax-Gam for three years before switching to , where he stayed for four years...
.
2011 season
Amidst the clenbuterol controversy, Contador earned his first win in the Vuelta a Murcia. He won the overall classification as well as two stage victories en route to his victory. Later in the month of March, Contador entered in the Volta a Catalunya2011 Volta a Catalunya
The 2011 Volta a Catalunya was the 91st running of the Volta a Catalunya cycling stage race. It started on 21 March in Lloret de Mar and ended on 27 March in Barcelona, and consisted on seven stages...
, where he claimed a win on the third stage to Vallnord
Vallnord
Vallnord is a ski/snowboard resort in the Pyrenees mountains in the country of Andorra, close to the border with Spain at Tor, Pallars.It encompasses the linked sectors of Pal and Arinsal and the Ordino-Arcalis sector some kilometres away.All the separate sectors within Vallnord contain...
, maintaining his advantage until the end of the race. He also won the individual time trial of Vuelta a Castilla y León
Vuelta a Castilla y León
The Vuelta Ciclista a Castilla y León is a professional road bicycle stage race held in Castile and León, Spain. Since 2005, Vuelta a Castilla y León has been a part of the UCI Europe Tour.-Past winners:-External links:*...
.
Contador competed in the 2011 Giro d'Italia
2011 Giro d'Italia
The 2011 Giro d'Italia was the 94th edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Giro started on 7 May with a team time trial in Turin to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Italian unification, when the city served as the first capital of the single state.The route was...
, his first time racing in the Giro since his victory in 2008
2008 Giro d'Italia
The 2008 Giro d'Italia was the 91st running of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It began in Palermo on 10 May and ended in Milan on 1 June. Twenty-two teams entered the race, which was won by Spaniard Alberto Contador of the cycling team...
. Contador won the ninth stage on Mount Etna
Mount Etna
Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina and Catania. It is the tallest active volcano in Europe, currently standing high, though this varies with summit eruptions; the mountain is 21 m higher than it was in 1981.. It is the highest mountain in...
, his first stage win at the Italian Grand Tour. That stage gave him the overall lead in the Giro, as well as the points classification. He also won the 12.7 km (7.9 mi) mountain time-trial to Nevegal. On 29 May, Contador went on to win the race
2011 Giro d'Italia
The 2011 Giro d'Italia was the 94th edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Giro started on 7 May with a team time trial in Turin to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Italian unification, when the city served as the first capital of the single state.The route was...
for the second time. In addition to winning the General Classification, Contador also won the Points Classification and finished second in the Mountains classification.
Despite the fact that he was scheduled to appear before the Court of Arbitration for Sport
Court of Arbitration for Sport
The Court of Arbitration for Sport is an international arbitration body set up to settle disputes related to sport. Its headquarters are in Lausanne and its courts are located in New York, Sydney and Lausanne, Switzerland...
in early August, Contador announced in early June he would compete in the 2011 Tour de France
2011 Tour de France
-Pre-race favourites:2010 winner Alberto Contador was suspended from cycling during a doping investigation from September 2010 to February 2011, during which time 2010 runner-up Andy Schleck was regarded as the favourite. When the suspension was lifted, Contador declared his desire to compete in...
. The CAS had planned to hear the case in early June but the dates were pushed back to early August. Contador aimed to become the first rider to win both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in the same year since Marco Pantani
Marco Pantani
Marco Pantani was an Italian road racing cyclist, widely considered one of the best climbers in professional road bicycle racing...
accomplished the feat in 1998.
In the opening stage Contador got slowed down by a crash and lost more than one minute. He lost additional time in the team time trial
Team time trial
A team time trial is a road-based bicycle race in which teams of cyclists race against the clock .Teams start at equal intervals, usually two, three or four minutes apart...
at Les Essarts
Les Essarts
Les Essarts is the name of several places in France:It is the name of several communes:* Les Essarts, in the Eure département* Les Essarts, in the Loir-et-Cher département* Les Essarts, in the Vendée département...
but finished second in the fourth stage up to Mûr-de-Bretagne
Mûr-de-Bretagne
Mûr-de-Bretagne is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France.-External links:*...
. Contador suffered four crashes in the opening nine days of the Tour, injuring his right knee before facing the Pyrenees mountain stages. He was dropped in the final kilometer in the stage to Luz Ardiden
Luz Ardiden
Luz Ardiden is a ski resort in the Pyrenees. It is situated in the Hautes-Pyrénées department, in the Midi-Pyrénées. The ski resort, which lies at a height of 1720 meters, opened on January 16, 1975...
and finished two seconds behind Andy Schleck
Andy Schleck
Andy Raymond Schleck is a Luxembourgish professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team . He is the younger brother of Fränk Schleck, who also rides for . Their father Johny Schleck rode the Tour de France and Vuelta a España between 1965 and 1974...
at the top of the Plateau de Beille
Plateau de Beille
Plateau de Beille is a ski resort in the Pyrenees. It is situated in the Ariège department, in the Midi-Pyrénées. The winter sports station lies at a height of 1790 meters....
. On the sixteenth stage to Gap
Gap, Hautes-Alpes
Gap is a commune in southeastern France, the capital of the Hautes-Alpes department.-Geography:An Alpine crossroads at the intersection of D994 and Route nationale 85 the Route Napoléon, Gap lies above sea level along the right bank of the Luye River...
, Contador attacked on the ascent of the Col de Manse, with Cadel Evans
Cadel Evans
Cadel Lee Evans is an Australian professional racing cyclist and winner of the 2011 Tour de France. Early in his career, Evans was a champion mountain biker, winning the World Cup in 1998 and 1999 and placing seventh in the men's cross-country mountain bike race at the 2000 Summer Olympics in...
and Samuel Sánchez
Samuel Sánchez
Samuel Sánchez González is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer. He was the gold medal winner in the 2008 Beijing Olympics Men's Road Race. In recent years Sánchez has proven himself in hilly classics and stage races as one of the most important riders in the peloton...
joining him in taking a time advantage over the other favorites in the general classification, including more than a minute over Andy Schleck. He was also aggressive in the next stage to Pinerolo
Pinerolo
Pinerolo is a town and comune in north-western Italy, 40 kilometres southwest of Turin on the river Chisone.-History:In the Middle Ages, the town of Pinerolo was one of the main crossroads in Italy, and was therefore one of the principal fortresses of the dukes of Savoy. Its military importance...
but unable to win time to the other favorites besides Thomas Voeckler
Thomas Voeckler
Thomas Voeckler is a French professional road racing cyclist who rides for the cycling team.- Biography :Voeckler has been a professional cyclist since 2001. He rides for , formerly known as Bbox Bouygues Telecom, Bouygues Télécom, Brioches la Boulangère, and Bonjour...
and Ivan Basso
Ivan Basso
Ivan Basso is an Italian professional road bicycle racer who is currently racing with UCI ProTeam . Basso, nicknamed Ivan the Terrible, is among the best mountain riders in the professional field in the 21st century, and is considered one of the strongest stage race riders...
. In the stage to Col du Galibier
Col du Galibier
Col du Galibier is a mountain pass in the southern region of the French Dauphiné Alps near Grenoble. It is the ninth highest paved road in the Alps and the sixth highest mountain pass. It is often the highest point of the Tour de France....
he lost time to the other favorites after Andy Schleck launched a solo attack sixty kilometers from the finish and Contador was later unable to follow the pace set by Cadel Evans. Contador launched an early attack on the last mountain stage to Alpe d'Huez
Alpe d'Huez
L'Alpe d'Huez is a ski resort at . It is a mountain pasture in the Central French Alps, in the commune of Huez, in the Isère département in the Rhône-Alpes region.-Tour de France:L'Alpe d'Huez is one of the main mountains in the Tour de France...
, reaching the top of Galibier with Andy Schleck, but their effort proved unsuccessful and they were captured by the rest of the main contenders following the long descent from the mountain. Contador launched another attack on the first kilometers of Alpe d'Huez but he was eventually beaten to victory by Pierre Rolland with Samuel Sánchez
Samuel Sánchez
Samuel Sánchez González is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer. He was the gold medal winner in the 2008 Beijing Olympics Men's Road Race. In recent years Sánchez has proven himself in hilly classics and stage races as one of the most important riders in the peloton...
second. Contador finished fifth in the overall classification, 3 minutes 57 seconds behind Cadel Evans
Cadel Evans
Cadel Lee Evans is an Australian professional racing cyclist and winner of the 2011 Tour de France. Early in his career, Evans was a champion mountain biker, winning the World Cup in 1998 and 1999 and placing seventh in the men's cross-country mountain bike race at the 2000 Summer Olympics in...
, bringing an end to his streak of six consecutive Grand Tour
Grand Tour (cycling)
In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour refers to one of the three major European professional cycling stage races:* Tour de France – Tour of France , held in July* Giro d'Italia – Tour of Italy , held in May...
victories.
Operation Puerto
After final rosters had been presented for the 2006 Tour de France, Contador and five other members of the Astana-Würth team were barred from competing due to alleged connections with the Operación Puerto doping caseOperación Puerto doping case
Operación Puerto is the code name of a Spanish Police operation against the doping network of Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, started in May 2006, which resulted in a scandal that involved several of the world most famous cyclists at the time.Media attention has focused on the small number of...
. Contador and four other members of his team at the time, , were eventually cleared of all charges on 26 July 2006 by the Spanish courts and later two out of the five (including Contador) were cleared by the UCI. Each received a written document signed by Manuel Sánchez Martín, secretary for the Spanish court, stating that "there are not any type of charges against them nor have there been adopted any type of legal action against them."
In May 2006, a document from the summary of the investigation (Documento 31) was released. In it, Contador's initials (A.C.) were associated with a hand-written note saying, "Nada o igual a J.J." (Spanish for "Nothing or like J.J."). J.J. were the initials of Jörg Jaksche
Jörg Jaksche
Jörg Jaksche is a German road bicycle racer.He has been cycling professionally since 1997, racing for the teams Polti , Team Telekom , ONCE , CSC , Liberty Seguros-Würth/Astana and Tinkoff Credit Systems in 2007.In 2004, he won the Tour Mediterranean and the Paris–Nice race.In the 2005 Tour de...
, who later admitted to being guilty of blood doping
Blood doping
Blood doping is the practice of boosting the number of red blood cells in the bloodstream in order to enhance athletic performance. Because such blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to the muscles, a higher concentration in the blood can improve an athlete’s aerobic capacity and...
prepared by the Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes
Eufemiano Fuentes
Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes is a Spanish sports doctor best known for being implicated in the Operación Puerto doping case.Fuentes was once an athlete. He then became the team doctor of Team ONCE, Amaya and the Kelme. The former Kelme rider Jesús Manzano accused Fuentes of being involved with doping....
in 2005. Contador was questioned in December 2006 by the magistrate in charge of the Puerto file. The rider declared to Judge Antonio Serrano that he did not know Eufemanio Fuentes personally. According to French daily Le Monde
Le Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
, he refused then to undergo a DNA test that would have judged whether or not he had any link to the blood bags that were found in the investigation.
On 28 July 2007, Le Monde, citing what it claimed was an investigation file to which it had access, stated that Contador's name appeared in several documents found during Operación Puerto. A second reference includes initials of riders’ names that appeared on another training document, although neither of those two references could be linked to doping practices.
On 30 July 2007, German doping expert Werner Franke
Werner Franke
Werner Franke is a professor of cell and molecular biology at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg.After completing high school , he studied chemistry, biology and physics at the University of Heidelberg...
accused Contador of having taken drugs in the past and being prescribed a doping regimen by Fuentes, who was connected with Operación Puerto. He passed his allegations on to the German authorities on 31 July 2007. Contador denied the accusations, saying
"I was in the wrong team at the wrong time and somehow my name got among the documents." On 10 August, Contador publicly declared himself to be a clean rider in face of suspicions about his alleged links to the Operación Puerto blood doping ring.
2009 Verbier climb
During the 2009 Tour de France2009 Tour de France
The 2009 Tour de France was the 96th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on 4 July in the principality of Monaco with a individual time trial which included a section of the Circuit de Monaco...
, former Tour champion Greg LeMond
Greg LeMond
Gregory James LeMond is a former professional road bicycle racer from the United States and a three-time winner of the Tour de France. He was born in Lakewood, California and raised in Reno, Nevada....
wrote a column for Le Monde
Le Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
in which he noted that Contador's time up Verbier
Verbier
Verbier is a village located in southwestern Switzerland in the canton of Valais. It is one of the largest holiday resort and ski areas in the Swiss Alps, is recognized as one of the premiere "off-piste" locations in the world...
was the fastest climb in the history of the Tour, which LeMond claimed would require a level of oxygen transport (VO2) "that has never been achieved by any athlete in any sport," and demanded that Contador prove that he was capable of that level of aerobic ability "without falling back to the use of performance enhancing products." At a press conference later that day, Contador refused to answer questions about the article. Subsequently, other experts disagreed with the calculations in LeMond's article, which were done by French physiology professor Antoine Vayer, who was a trainer for the Festina cycling team
Festina cycling team
Festina is a former professional cycling team that was active in the professional peloton from 1989 to 2001. The team was sponsored by the watch manufacturers Festina Lotus AV.-Beginnings:...
until the Festina affair
Festina affair
The Festina Affair refers to the events that surrounded several doping scandals, doping investigations and confessions by riders to doping that occurred during and after the 1998 Tour de France. The affair began when a large haul of doping products was found in a car of the Festina cycling team...
in 1998. Two physiologists claimed Vayer's assumptions overstate the needed level of oxygen transport, and that the level Contador needed, while "still quite high," is "not so high that you can definitively state that it can only be achieved via doping." A third, who noted that Vayer is the leading expert in this field and "more than anyone, knows how to look at a climb in context", nevertheless also questioned Vayer's assumptions.
2010 Tour de France
In September 2010, Contador revealed that a urine sample he had given on 21 July, a rest day in the 2010 Tour de France2010 Tour de France
The 2010 Tour de France was the 97th edition of the Tour de France cycle race, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on with an 8.9 km prologue time trial in Rotterdam, the first start in the Netherlands since 1996...
, had contained traces of clenbuterol
Clenbuterol
Clenbuterol is a sympathomimetic amine used by sufferers of breathing disorders as a decongestant and bronchodilator. People with chronic breathing disorders such as asthma use this as a bronchodilator to make breathing easier...
. He has stated, due to the number of other tests he passed and that only a tiny amount of the substance was detected in the one he failed, that food contamination was to blame. Aiding credibility to the explanation, anti-doping doctor Don Catlin
Don Catlin
Don H. Catlin, M.D. is an anti-doping scientist and one of the founders of modern drug-testing in sport. -Career:Catlin has overseen testing for performance-enhancing drugs at the three most recent Olympics held in the United States since the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles, as well as testing...
said that of the contaminants found in food supplements, clenbuterol is one of the more common. However, when asked if it was plausible that Contador had ingested the clenbuterol through contamination, Catlin said "without knowing what the level in his sample is, it's impossible to say." Contador stated that he is the victim, and he can "hold his head high" and that he thinks he should not be punished. Several people related to the sport said that there is little benefit from using the drug, especially in the amounts that were discovered.
There has been some skepticism of Contador's claim that contaminated meat was to blame. In 2008 and 2009, only one animal sample came back positive for clenbuterol out of 83,203 animal samples tested by EU member nations. Out of 19,431 animal tests in Spain over the same period, there were no samples that came back positive for clenbuterol.
Contador's urine sample, taken during the day before his clenbuterol positive sample, was reported to contain plastic residue indicating possible blood doping
Blood doping
Blood doping is the practice of boosting the number of red blood cells in the bloodstream in order to enhance athletic performance. Because such blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to the muscles, a higher concentration in the blood can improve an athlete’s aerobic capacity and...
, but the test is not recognised by the World Anti-Doping Agency
World Anti-Doping Agency
The World Anti-Doping Agency , , is an independent foundation created through a collective initiative led by the International Olympic Committee . It was set up on November 10, 1999 in Lausanne, Switzerland, as a result of what was called the "Declaration of Lausanne", to promote, coordinate and...
, so no charges in relation to this finding were brought. A theory has circulated that blood doping could account for the minute traces if the clenbuterol was introduced through a transfusion of already contaminated blood, rather than ingestion or injection.
The UCI issued a statement reporting that the concentration was 50 picograms per millilitre, and that this was 400 times below the minimum standards of detection capability required by WADA
World Anti-Doping Agency
The World Anti-Doping Agency , , is an independent foundation created through a collective initiative led by the International Olympic Committee . It was set up on November 10, 1999 in Lausanne, Switzerland, as a result of what was called the "Declaration of Lausanne", to promote, coordinate and...
, and that further scientific investigation would be required. Contador was provisionally suspended from competition, although this had no short-term effect as he had already finished his racing programme for the 2010 season.
Contador had been informed of the results over a month earlier, on 24 August. Later the amount discovered was clarified as 40 times below the minimum standards, rather than the 400 times originally reported by the UCI. Contador's scientific adviser claimed that he would have needed 180 times the amount detected to gain any benefit in his performance.
In late January 2011, the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC
Royal Spanish Cycling Federation
The Royal Spanish Cycling Federation or RFEC is the national governing body of cycle racing in Spain....
) proposed a one year ban, but it subsequently accepted Contador's appeal and cleared him of all charges. Contador returned to racing in February in the Volta ao Algarve
Volta ao Algarve
The Volta ao Algarve is a road bicycle racing stage race held annually in the Algarve, Portugal. Since 2005, it has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. Due to its early February position in the European calendar, it is used by many riders to prepare for the Spring...
, a race he won in 2009 and 2010. The UCI and the World Anti-Doping Agency
World Anti-Doping Agency
The World Anti-Doping Agency , , is an independent foundation created through a collective initiative led by the International Olympic Committee . It was set up on November 10, 1999 in Lausanne, Switzerland, as a result of what was called the "Declaration of Lausanne", to promote, coordinate and...
each appealed the RFEC decision independently to the Court of Arbitration for Sport
Court of Arbitration for Sport
The Court of Arbitration for Sport is an international arbitration body set up to settle disputes related to sport. Its headquarters are in Lausanne and its courts are located in New York, Sydney and Lausanne, Switzerland...
in March 2011, but he remains free to ride until their ruling is published. The hearing with CAS was initially scheduled for June, but following an extension requested by Contador's legal team, it was rearranged for August, In the week following the 2011 Tour de France
2011 Tour de France
-Pre-race favourites:2010 winner Alberto Contador was suspended from cycling during a doping investigation from September 2010 to February 2011, during which time 2010 runner-up Andy Schleck was regarded as the favourite. When the suspension was lifted, Contador declared his desire to compete in...
and later postponed again until November 2011.
Major achievements
2003 –- Tour de PologneTour de PologneThe Tour de Pologne is a road bicycle racing stage race. It consists of seven or eight stages and is usually around 1,200 km in length. The race was first held in 1928. Until 1952 the race was held sporadically, but since then it has been an annual race...
- 1st, Stage 8 (ITTIndividual time trialAn individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...
)
- 1st, Stage 8 (ITT
2004 –
- Vuelta a AragónVuelta a AragónVuelta a Aragón is a professional cycle road race held in Spain in April each year. The event was first run in 1939 but has not been held consistently, being cancelled in 2006 and 2007...
- Winner mountains classification
2005 –
- Vuelta al País Vasco
- 3rd Overall classification
- Winner points classification
- 1st, Stage 5b (ITTIndividual time trialAn individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...
)
- Tour Down UnderTour Down UnderThe Tour Down Under is a cycling race in Adelaide, South Australia and surrounding area. The race starts on the third Tuesday of January each year and attracts riders from across Australia and the world. In 2005, the Tour Down Under was promoted by the Union Cycliste Internationale to the...
- 1st, Stage 5
- Setmana Catalana
- Winner overall classification
- Winner combination classification
- 1st, Stage 3
- Tour de Romandie
- 4th Overall classification
- 1st, Stage 4
2006 –
- Tour de SuisseTour de Suisse 2006The 70th edition of the Tour de Suisse took place from June 10 to June 18, 2006. It consisted of nine stages covering a total of 1,468 km, starting in Baden and finishing in Bern....
- 1st, Stage 8
- Tour de RomandieTour de Romandie 2006The 60th Tour de Romandie took place from April 25 through April 30. It is a six-stage cycling tour. It was won by Australian climber Cadel Evans of the who surprisingly won the final time trial stage and won the Overall Classification despite starting the time trial in the third overall...
- 2nd Overall classification
- 1st, Stage 3
2007 –
- Vuelta a Castilla y LeónVuelta a Castilla y LeónThe Vuelta Ciclista a Castilla y León is a professional road bicycle stage race held in Castile and León, Spain. Since 2005, Vuelta a Castilla y León has been a part of the UCI Europe Tour.-Past winners:-External links:*...
- Winner overall classification
- Winner combination classification
- Winner Spanish rider classification
- 1st, Stage 4
- Paris–Nice
- Winner overall classification
- Winner young rider classification
- 1st, Stage 4
- 1st, Stage 7
- Volta a la Comunitat ValencianaVolta a la Comunitat ValencianaThe Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana is a road cycling stage race held in the Valencian Community , Spain. Its position in the cycling calendar means it is often used as preparation for the spring classics or the grand tours which take place later in the season.No editions of the race have been...
- 1st, Stage 4
- Tour de France2007 Tour de FranceThe 2007 Tour de France, the 94th running of the race, took place from 7 July to 29 July 2007. The Tour began with a prologue in London, and ended with the traditional finish in Paris. Along the way, the route also passed through Belgium and Spain...
-
Winner overall classification -
Winner young rider classification - 1st, Stage 14
-
2008 –
- Vuelta a Castilla y León
- Winner overall classification
- Winner combination classification
- Winner Spanish rider classification
- 1st, Stage 1 (ITTIndividual time trialAn individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...
) - 1st, Stage 4
- Vuelta al País Vasco2008 Vuelta al País VascoThe 2008 Vuelta al País Vasco, the 65th edition of the Vuelta al País Vasco stage cycling race, took place from April 7 to April 12, 2008. It was won by Spanish rider Alberto Contador of .-General classification:...
- Winner overall classification
- 1st Stage 1
- 1st Stage 6 (ITTIndividual time trialAn individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...
)
- Giro d'Italia2008 Giro d'ItaliaThe 2008 Giro d'Italia was the 91st running of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It began in Palermo on 10 May and ended in Milan on 1 June. Twenty-two teams entered the race, which was won by Spaniard Alberto Contador of the cycling team...
- Winner overall classification
-
- Beijing Olympics
- 4th, Individual Time Trial
- Vuelta a España2008 Vuelta a EspañaThe 2008 Vuelta a España was the 63rd edition of the Vuelta a España, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The event took place from 30 August to 21 September 2008 over 21 stages covering . The first stage was a team time trial in Granada. The event finished in Madrid 23 days later...
- Winner overall classification
- Winner combination classification
- 1st, Stage 13
- 1st, Stage 14
-
2009 –
- Volta ao AlgarveVolta ao AlgarveThe Volta ao Algarve is a road bicycle racing stage race held annually in the Algarve, Portugal. Since 2005, it has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. Due to its early February position in the European calendar, it is used by many riders to prepare for the Spring...
- Winner overall classification
- 1st, Stage 4 (ITTIndividual time trialAn individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...
)
- Paris–Nice
- 4th overall classification
- 1st, Stage 1 (ITTIndividual time trialAn individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...
) - 1st, Stage 6
- Vuelta al País Vasco2009 Vuelta al País VascoThe 2009 Vuelta al País Vasco, the 66th edition of the Vuelta al País Vasco stage cycling race, started on 6 April and ended on 11 April. It was won by Alberto Contador, making this his second Vuelta al País Vasco victory in a row...
- Winner overall classification
- 1st, Stage 3
- 1st, Stage 6 (ITTIndividual time trialAn individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...
)
- Dauphiné Libéré2009 Critérium du Dauphiné LibéréThe 2009 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré was the 61st edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré stage race. It took place from 7 June to 14 June, and was part of both the 2009 UCI ProTour and the inaugural World Calendar. It began in Nancy, France with an individual time trial, and ended in Grenoble...
- 3rd overall classification
- Spanish National Time Trial Championships
- 1st position
- Tour de France2009 Tour de FranceThe 2009 Tour de France was the 96th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on 4 July in the principality of Monaco with a individual time trial which included a section of the Circuit de Monaco...
- Winner overall classification
- 1st, Stage 4 (TTTTeam time trialA team time trial is a road-based bicycle race in which teams of cyclists race against the clock .Teams start at equal intervals, usually two, three or four minutes apart...
) - 1st, Stage 15
- 1st, Stage 18 (ITTIndividual time trialAn individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...
)
-
2010 –
- Volta ao Algarve2010 Volta ao AlgarveThe 2010 Volta ao Algarve was the 36th edition of the Volta ao Algarve cycling stage race. It was held from 17–21 February 2010, and was rated as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour...
- Winner overall classification
- 1st, Stage 3
- Paris–Nice2010 Paris–NiceThe 2010 Paris–Nice was the 68th running of the Paris–Nice cycling stage race, often known as the Race to the Sun. It started on 7 March and ended on 14 March in Nice and consisted of a prologue time-trial and seven stages. Alberto Contador of Spain won the race, regaining the title he had won in...
- Winner overall classification
- 1st, Stage 4
- Vuelta a Castilla y LeónVuelta a Castilla y LeónThe Vuelta Ciclista a Castilla y León is a professional road bicycle stage race held in Castile and León, Spain. Since 2005, Vuelta a Castilla y León has been a part of the UCI Europe Tour.-Past winners:-External links:*...
- Winner overall classification
- Winner combination classification
- Winner Spanish rider classification
- 1st, Stage 4 (ITTIndividual time trialAn individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...
)
- La Flèche Wallonne2010 La Flèche WallonneThe 2010 La Flèche Wallonne cycling race took place on 21 April 2010. It was the 74th running of the La Flèche Wallonne between Charleroi and Huy in Belgium. It was won by the World Champion Cadel Evans.-Teams:...
- 3rd position
- Critérium du Dauphiné2010 Critérium du DauphinéThe 2010 Critérium du Dauphiné was the 62nd edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné stage race, and the first since it was renamed. It took place from 6–13 June, and was part of both the 2010 UCI ProTour and World Calendar...
- 2nd, overall classification
- Winner points classification
- 1st, Prologue (ITTIndividual time trialAn individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...
) - 1st, Stage 6
- Tour de France2010 Tour de FranceThe 2010 Tour de France was the 97th edition of the Tour de France cycle race, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on with an 8.9 km prologue time trial in Rotterdam, the first start in the Netherlands since 1996...
- Winner overall classification
-
2011 –
- Vuelta a MurciaVuelta a MurciaThe Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia is a road bicycle race held in and around Murcia, Spain. The race consists of a men's competition over five stages and is part of the UCI Europe Tour as a 2.1 event. The first four editions were reserved to amateurs....
- Winner overall classification
- Winner points classification
- 1st, Stage 2
- 1st, Stage 3 (ITTIndividual time trialAn individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...
)
- Volta a Catalunya2011 Volta a CatalunyaThe 2011 Volta a Catalunya was the 91st running of the Volta a Catalunya cycling stage race. It started on 21 March in Lloret de Mar and ended on 27 March in Barcelona, and consisted on seven stages...
- Winner overall classification
- 1st, Stage 3
- Vuelta a Castilla y LeónVuelta a Castilla y LeónThe Vuelta Ciclista a Castilla y León is a professional road bicycle stage race held in Castile and León, Spain. Since 2005, Vuelta a Castilla y León has been a part of the UCI Europe Tour.-Past winners:-External links:*...
- 1st, Stage 4 (ITTIndividual time trialAn individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...
)
- 1st, Stage 4 (ITT
- Giro d'Italia2011 Giro d'ItaliaThe 2011 Giro d'Italia was the 94th edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Giro started on 7 May with a team time trial in Turin to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Italian unification, when the city served as the first capital of the single state.The route was...
- Winner overall classification
- Winner points classification
- 1st, Stage 9
- 1st, Stage 16 (ITTIndividual time trialAn individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...
)
-
- 2011 Tour de France2011 Tour de France-Pre-race favourites:2010 winner Alberto Contador was suspended from cycling during a doping investigation from September 2010 to February 2011, during which time 2010 runner-up Andy Schleck was regarded as the favourite. When the suspension was lifted, Contador declared his desire to compete in...
- 5th overall
Grand Tours overall classification results timeline
| Grand Tour | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giro d'Italia Giro d'Italia The Giro d'Italia , also simply known as The Giro, is a long distance road bicycle racing stage race for professional cyclists held over three weeks in May/early June in and around Italy. The Giro is one of the three Grand Tours , and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar... |
– | – | – | 1 2008 Giro d'Italia The 2008 Giro d'Italia was the 91st running of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It began in Palermo on 10 May and ended in Milan on 1 June. Twenty-two teams entered the race, which was won by Spaniard Alberto Contador of the cycling team... |
– | – | 1 2011 Giro d'Italia The 2011 Giro d'Italia was the 94th edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Giro started on 7 May with a team time trial in Turin to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Italian unification, when the city served as the first capital of the single state.The route was... |
| Tour de France Tour de France The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The... |
31 2005 Tour de France The 2005 Tour de France was the 92nd Tour de France, taking place from July 2 to July 24, 2005. It comprised 21 stages over 3592.5 km, the winner's average speed was 41.654 km/h. The first stages were held in the département of the Vendée, for the third time in 12 years. The 2005 Tour was... |
– | 1 2007 Tour de France The 2007 Tour de France, the 94th running of the race, took place from 7 July to 29 July 2007. The Tour began with a prologue in London, and ended with the traditional finish in Paris. Along the way, the route also passed through Belgium and Spain... |
– | 1 2009 Tour de France The 2009 Tour de France was the 96th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on 4 July in the principality of Monaco with a individual time trial which included a section of the Circuit de Monaco... |
1 2010 Tour de France The 2010 Tour de France was the 97th edition of the Tour de France cycle race, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on with an 8.9 km prologue time trial in Rotterdam, the first start in the Netherlands since 1996... |
5 2011 Tour de France -Pre-race favourites:2010 winner Alberto Contador was suspended from cycling during a doping investigation from September 2010 to February 2011, during which time 2010 runner-up Andy Schleck was regarded as the favourite. When the suspension was lifted, Contador declared his desire to compete in... |
| Vuelta a España Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España is a three-week road bicycle racing stage race that is one of the three "Grand Tours" of Europe and part of the UCI World Ranking calendar. The race lasts three weeks and attracts cyclists from around the world. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages... |
– | – | – | 1 2008 Vuelta a España The 2008 Vuelta a España was the 63rd edition of the Vuelta a España, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The event took place from 30 August to 21 September 2008 over 21 stages covering . The first stage was a team time trial in Granada. The event finished in Madrid 23 days later... |
– | – | – |
External links
- Alberto Contador Video Alberto does wind tunnel testing on new bike
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