Tour de France winner Alberto Contador has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for a “very small concentration” of a banned anabolic agent during the race, cycling's governing body said Thursday. The Spaniard, who won his third Tour this year, was tested during the second rest day of the race and the second B test had confirmed the presence of clenbuterol, the International Cycling Union (UCI) said in a statement. “The rider, who had already put an end to his cycling season before the result was known, was nevertheless formally and provisionally suspended as is prescribed by the World Anti-Doping Code,” the statement said. Contador, who is leaving Astana to join Bjarne Riis's Saxo Bank team next season, blamed food contamination for the finding. “It's possible to put your hand in the fire and not burn yourself. If it had been a clear case of doping it would have come out a week later. The food poisoning came from a cut of meat from Spain,” Contador told Spanish radio station Cadena Cope. “It is Riis Cycling's hope that this case can be resolved in a orderly and timely fashion as it is in the best interests of all parties involved that the proper conclusions are drawn within a reasonable period of time,” Saxo Bank said in a statement. “The team has had and will continue to have the position that cheating of any form will not be tolerated.” Clenbuterol can be abused by athletes to strip fat and enhance muscle size and can have short-term stimulant effects including increasing aerobic capacity, blood pressure and alertness. It has led to bans for cyclists in the past. The concentration in Contador's A test was “400 time(s) less than what the antidoping laboratories accredited by (World Anti-Doping Agency) WADA must be able to detect,” the UCI said in a statement. “In view of this very small concentration and in consultation with WADA, the UCI immediately had the proper results management proceedings conducted including the analysis of B sample that confirmed the first result.” In Switzerland, cycling's governing body says Spanish Vuelta runner-up Ezequiel Mosquera and another rider tested positive for a banned substance during this year's race.
