Alberto Contador

LES ESSARTS, France (VN) - Alberto Contador tried to put a positive spin after a second consecutive day of time losses to his rivals at the 2011 Tour de France.

Stage 1 of the 2011 Tour de France proved yet again that contenders for the final overall victory need to keep themselves up front and out of trouble.

Alberto Contador's rivals for the overall got a gift on Saturday as the defending Tour de France champ lost more than a minute on the first stage.

How does the '3km rule' impact Saturday's stage? Quite a bit, as it turns out.

Bjarne Riis and Alberto Contador faced down a sometimes-skeptical media mob Thursday ahead of Saturday's Tour de France where Contador will line up as defending champion with an asterisk.

PARIS, (AFP) ─ Tour de France chief Christian Prudhomme said he will shake the hand of reigning champion Alberto Contador despite a controversy which has left the race in an unprecedented quandary.

Pause for a moment and ask yourself, how do you feel about Alberto Contador?

“I won two races, one on the road and another in the hotel,” Contador said.

Alberto Contador declared himself content with a silver medal at Sunday's Spanish national road championships and said he would now rest for Saturday's start of the Tour de France.

Alberto Contador will take aim at the Spanish national title this weekend in both the road race and time trial events.

Please no wagering ...

Speaking to Spanish television (TVE1) during a break in a training camp in the French Alps, Contador said racing the Giro d'Italia before the Tour de France was hardly ideal preparation for the demands of the Tour.

PARIS (AFP) - Saxo Bank is to continue sponsoring the cycling team of Tour de France champion Alberto Contador next season, the Danish bank confirmed on Tuesday.

Ivan Basso has placed the entire focus of his season on returning to the Tour de France podium, this time on the top step in Paris. To do so, Liquigas-Cannondale’s two-time podium finisher will of course have to contend with the man he says is the only rider in the sport capable of the Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double.

The UCI's press releases urges the media and fans to show Contador respect.

The UCI's management committee on Thursday urged fans and the media to show the "utmost sense of responsibility" toward Alberto Contador at the Tour de France.

Lionel Marie, sport director at Garmin-Cervélo, says Alberto Contador will have an ace up his sleeve this July in his showdown against Andy Schleck. Why? Because Marie says that Bjarne Riis knows his former pupil, Andy Schleck, better than anyone, and the Dane will be able to pick up the tell-tale signs when the younger of the Schleck brothers is pushing into the red.

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Sean Yates has seen Alberto Contador up close and personal during his sport directing days at Discovery Channel and Astana, where the Spanish climber earned his earliest grand tour successes. Yates knows that Contador will be the five-star favorite when the Tour de France starts next month despite having raced and won the Giro d'Italia.

Despite having a clear road to the Tour de France, Alberto Contador remains uncommitted regarding his participation in the 2011 edition.

PARIS (AFP) — Alberto Contador edged closer to taking part in the 2011 Tour de France after his doping hearing before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) was set for August 1-3.

Alberto Contador received a hero's welcome Monday in Spain following his Giro d'Italia victory, but remained cautioned on a possible start in next month's Tour de France.

MILAN, Italy (VN) — How far can Alberto Contador go? That's the question that many are asking after Sunday's victory at the 2011 Giro d'Italia, when Contador claimed his sixth grand tour victory in his young, but controversial career.

Will Alberto Contador race the Tour de France? That depends on how he recovers — and how the Court of Arbitration for Sport rules on his ongoing clenbuterol case.

MACUGNAGA, Italy (VN) – Alberto Contador is so strong at this Giro d’Italia he can start gifting stage victories.

SAN PELLEGRINO, Italy (VN) — Apparent delays in Alberto Contador's hearing in his ongoing doping case could open the door for him to race this year's Tour de France despite having the risk of disqualification from last year's victory.

HEILIGENBLUT, Austria (VN) - With the Giro d'Italia heading into a tough run in the mountains, Eddy Merckx observed that the only hope the GC rivals had to knock Alberto Contador off-balance was to attack from afar and try something truly daring.

Alberto Contador's fate will be considered just days after he's set to conclude racing in the Giro d'Italia.

TERAMO, Italy (VN) – Mark Cavendish wasn’t about to leave the Giro d’Italia without winning at least one stage. But going into Tuesday’s short but fast 10th stage from Termoli to Teramo, time was running out. There were only two real chances left for sprinters and the pressure was on.

When Alberto Contador lit his climbing after-burners on Mount Etna Sunday afternoon and streaked through the translucent Sicilian air toward his first-ever Giro d’Italia stage win (and a new grand-tour leader’s jersey), observers said the race was over. But Contador’s victory, only three seconds ahead of the enigmatic Venezuelan climber José Rujano and almost a minute ahead of his declared rivals, can be seen as a first salvo in a Giro that features six more mountaintop finishes and a couple of time trials before the checkered flag drops in Milan on May 29.

HTC-Highroad's Mark Cavendish won his sixth career Giro stage on Tuesday, rising to the occasion despite allegations that he was towed up part of Sunday's final climb. The Manxster outkicked nemesis Alessandro Petacchi in the final meters of one of the last sprinter stages of this Tour of Italy.

NAPOLI, Italy (VN) — Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard) on Monday expressed satisfaction about grabbing the pink jersey in Sunday's windy ride up Mount Etna, but suggested that the team might let it slip away if a breakaway of non-threatening riders makes a play for pink.

Alberto Contador proved he's the man to beat on Sunday's extraordinary moonscape climb up Mount Etna, the largest active volcano in Europe.

On Saturday, Alberto Contador responded to critics the way he always does ─ with vicious accelerations from his spindly legs, taking second in stage eight and putting everyone on notice a day of ahead of the Giro's first major mountaintop finish up Mount Etna.

FIUGGI, Italy (VN) – Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard) says he’s being careful in what he eats in Italy as he makes a run for the pink jersey at the Giro d’Italia.

Alberto Contador travels to Italy on Wednesday to take on the Giro d'Italia, where he will line up Saturday as one of the five-star favorites for victory.

Alberto Contador and key Saxo Bank-Sungard teammates previewed the decisive climbing stages for the upcoming Giro d’Italia and came away impressed.

Aussie Richie Porte will not be among the nine riders backing Alberto Contador as he tackles the 2011 Giro d'Italia, Saxo Bank-Sungard announces.

Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard) says he is still feeling the effects of a spring cold ahead of Wednesday’s Flèche Wallonne in what will be his only spring classic of the season.

Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard) took what he could out of the Vuelta a Castilla y León despite missing a chance to win for the fourth time in five years.

Alberto Contador wins the fourth stage of the Vuelta Castilla y Leon and Xavier Tondo takes the leader's jersey.

talian Filippo Savini (Colnago-CSF Inox) won Friday’s “queen stage” at the Vuelta a Castilla y León while Dutch rider Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) takes the leader’s jersey on a day that ended on a frustrating note for pre-race favorite Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard).

VALLADOLID, Spain (VN) – Alberto Contador says he is staying focused on racing and leaving his pending legal battle in the hands of his advisors and legal team.

Things are never easy for Alberto Contador these days. The start of Wednesday’s first stage at the Vuelta a Castilla y León was delayed when the president of the jury demanded to see Contador’s racing license.

With nearly all the major Tour de France hopefuls lining up this week at the Tour of the Basque Country, Alberto Contador has gone to the mountains.

Alberto Contador should know his fate before the start of the Tour de France. That’s according to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which promised it would make a ruling on the long-running clenbuterol case before the start of the season’s most important race.

UCI president Pat McQuaid told The Associated Press that an appeal in Alberto Contador’s doping case was prompted by fears of political meddling within the Spanish cycling federation.

The positive clenbuterol test of Tour de France winner Alberto Contador has consumed the cycling world since its announcement in September. While he's never tested positive before, Contador's career has been affected almost from its start by doping allegations — often against others.

PARIS (AFP) - Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said Thursday he wants a swift end to the saga surrounding three-time champion Alberto Contador after cycling's governing body revived a doping case against him, despite the Spaniard's acquittal by his own federation.

L VENDRELL, Spain (VN) – Alberto Contador vows to finish the Volta a Catalunya and will keep racing despite the UCI’s decision to appeal his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

So what is the basis for the UCI’s appeal? Are they going to attack the evidence — or lack of it — or are they going to go after Spain’s decision? Where does WADA come in? Why is Contador still racing?

AIGLE, Switzerland (AFP) -The UCI said Thursday that it would appeal Spain's decision to acquit rider Alberto Contador of doping charges stemming from last year's Tour de France.

With his sporting career in the hands of lawyers and bureaucrats, Alberto Contador did the only thing that he could do: attack with his legs.

Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard) said Wednesday's five-climb stage into Andorra at the Volta a Catalunya isn't hard enough to completely break open the race.

BANYOLES, Spain (VN) — It’s coming down to the wire on whether or not the UCI will decide to appeal the Spanish federation’s decision to clear Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard) on doping charges in his long-running clenbuterol case.

With just days to go before the UCI must decide whether or not it will appeal the Spanish cycling federation's ruling to clear Alberto Contador, UCI president Pat McQuaid says that the three-time Tour de France champion is not receiving preferential treatment.

Dutch mountain bike racer Rudi van Houts, suspended last year after testing positive for a small amount of clenbuterol, has been cleared to race.

Alberto Contador strongly defended himself against claims that his clenbuterol positive was triggered by a possible blood transfusion during the 2010 Tour de France.

MURCIA, Spain (VN) – A huge smile creased across the typically somber face of Bjarne Riis when Alberto Contador celebrated his first victory of 2011 at the Vuelta a Murcia by pointing proudly at his Saxo Bank-Sungard jersey.

Alberto Contador calls the Giro d’Italia his first major goal of the season as he waits to learn whether he'll be able to try for a fourth Tour de France title July 2-24.

The UCI and the French anti-doping agency are working together on this year's Paris-Nice after two years of squabbling.

Alberto Contador wins stage 2 in Murcia and pulls on a leader's jersey for the first time since the 2010 Tour de France.