Alberto Contador celebrates with Spanish Vuelta cycling race trophy Sunday. — APMADRID – Spain's Alberto Contador said Monday all seven of his major cycling Tour wins still count as far as he's concerned, despite being stripped of two titles along with receiving a two-year doping ban. Contador, the 29-year-old Saxo Bank rider who won his second Tour of Spain Sunday in a fairy-tale comeback from his hotly disputed drugs suspension, raised seven fingers on the winner's podium. Asked on public television station TVE why he made the gesture, Contador said: “Seven, that how many Tours I feel I have won. “What's written down on paper could be one thing or another. But in the end what counts is your own feeling, and the memory that remains imprinted on the retinas of the fans. What's on paper is secondary." Contador lost his 2010 Tour de France and 2011 Giro d'Italia titles after testing positive for traces of banned substance clenbuterol in 2010, which he insists came from a contaminated steak. Officially, he has notched up five Tour victories: the Tour of France in 2007 and 2009, the Giro d'Italia 2008 and the Vueltas in 2008 and 2012. Asked about the doping suspicions raised over some Spanish sports stars, who were notably mocked in a French satirical puppet show last February, he said: “It has been spoken of and joked about without a factual basis. It is something that does not reflect reality. I don't see it as envy, more as admiration." Meanwhile, Chinese fans hoping to see Contador race in the Tour of Beijing are in for a major disappointment as the Spaniard is unlikely to travel halfway around the world for a “pointless" event. An International Cycling Union (UCI) rule states that the World Tour (elite) points from a rider returning from a doping ban do not count for two years. Contador was scheduled to take part in the Oct 9-13 Tour of Beijing but his Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank team manager Bjarne Riis said the star rider would not start the race as it did not carry any World Tour points for the team. “It makes no sense for Alberto Contador to promote their race if we are not getting anything back from it," Riis was quoted as telling Danish website Sporten.dk. “He will be a huge name over there yet he cannot even score points. It makes no sense. Why should he go there? I cannot see why," the Dane added. — AP
