Free Republic

A spokesman for three-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador says the cyclist tested positive for a banned steroid during this year's race. Contador's publicist released a statement Wednesday saying the substance, identified as clenbuterol, was found in a test taken on July 21. Contador has blamed food contamination as the only possible explanation for the positive test.

The real drama on the day was whether Alberto Contador could hold off the challenge from Andy Schleck. In the end, the Spaniard gained an additional 31 seconds on Schleck, extending his lead to 39 seconds. Coincidentally that margin is exactly what Alberto Contador gained on Andy Schleck when he made his cowardly attack on the climb up Port de Bales in stage 15. Even more interesting is that it appeared Schleck was going to put time into Contador before his chain malfunction. Given what happened today, Schleck would likely have won the Tour de France had the incident not...

With a rest day looming and the contenders looking to preserve some energy for Thursday’s showdown atop the Col du Tormalet; it set up the perfect scenario for a breakaway to escape the peloton and take victory in Pau. Tuesday’s stage 16 was by no means a day off for the field, featuring two Category 1 climbs and two monstrous Hors Category climbs before a 60 kilometer run in to the finish. Admitting that he dog-eared this page in the race book before the Tour started; Lance Armstrong and his teammate Chris Horner escaped with seven other riders early in...

Contador puts time into Schleck setting up a showdown in the Pyrenees Team Katusha’s Joaquin Rodriguez took the victory in stage 12 with GC favorite Alberto Contador finishing comfortably on his wheel in second place. More importantly, Contador gained ten seconds on overall race leader Andy Schleck, cutting his lead to just 31 seconds and setting up a showdown in the Pyrenees. Schleck stays in yellow, however, if he’s not able to gain significant time in the Pyrenees, he has little hope of finishing atop the podium in Paris. Contador’s superior time trial skill will allow him to gain at...

Clearly Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador are the two alpha males fighting for supremacy in this year’s Tour de France. The two GC favorites put in a Herculean effort to chase down the remnants of the today’s breakaway on the descent of the Col de la Madeline and cemented their places atop the leader board, setting up a show down in the Pyrenees Mountains. Race leader Cadel Evans cracked on the climb of the Madeline loosing more than eight minutes on the day and ending his chance of winning his first Tour de France. BMC team owner Jim Ochowicz revealed...

This updated story corrects an earlier mistranslation of a key quote. - Editor Tour de France winner Alberto Contador on Monday launched a stinging attack on teammate Lance Armstrong, saying relations between the two were tense throughout the race. "My relationship with Lance is zero. He is a great champion and has done a great Tour, but on a personal level I have never had a great admiration for him and I never will," the Spaniard told a news conference in Madrid. Contador won the Tour on Sunday with a comfortable lead over his rivals. His Astana teammate Armstrong, a...

ARIS — With the Arc de Triomphe in the distance and a sea of fans along the roadside, Lance Armstrong stood on the podium at the Tour de France on Sunday, two spots below what he was used to. From 1999 to 2005, Armstrong won this race, the most prestigious event in cycling. This time, he was third, behind the winner Alberto Contador of Spain and Andy Schleck of Luxembourg. But for the 37-year-old Armstrong — and for many in the cycling community — it was a victory, even though Armstrong fell short of crossing the finish line first. “I...

Today is day one! Armstrong riding. Astana is back! Predictions? Other comments? Does someone have the ping list from last year?

Tour de France Winner’s Team Will Disband By IAN AUSTEN The cycling team of Lance Armstrong and this year's Tour de France winner Alberto Contador said Friday that it will disband after failing to replace the Discovery Channel as its sponsor. The announcement came at roughly the same that Contador held a news conference in Spain to deny the doping allegations that plagued him even before his victory last month. In normal circumstances, a Tour de France win should have assured the continuation of the Discovery Channel squad which is owned by Tailwind Sports, a company based in Austin, Texas,...

German authorities said yesterday they have received documents from doping expert Werner Franke which he claims show the Tour de France winner, Alberto Contador, was involved in doping. Franke said he has documents from last year's Operation Puerto investigation in Spain which show that the Spaniard, who won the drug-marred race on Sunday, had taken HMG-Lepori as a testosterone booster and an asthma product called TGN. "We can confirm we have received the documents, and they will be incorporated into procedures of the district attorney's office," said Christian Brockert, a spokesman for Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office. Brockert said the...

The likely winner of the most controversial Tour de France in history, Spain's Alberto Contador, will step off the victory podium in Paris this afternoon and walk straight into an investigation into alleged links with a doping doctor which could ultimately cost him his title. That prospect would be a catastrophe both for cycling and for the organisers of the Tour de France, who had hoped the man wearing the yellow jersey on today's final sprint down the Champs-Élysées would help to redeem an event that has seemingly been heading for oblivion. Scroll down to read more: Sadly for those...

Rest day today.