PINTO, September 30 – Three-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador of Spain, who was suspended Thursday after failing a dope test, said he was a victim of "food contamination".He told a news conference here that he ingested the banned substance for which he tested positive, clenbuterol, in meat that he ate before the test.
The International Cycling Union (UCI) earlier said that the cycling superstar had been provisionally suspended after clenbuterol was detected in a urine sample taken from the Spaniard on July 21.
The control was conducted in Pau during the second rest day of the Tour de France, four days before Contador won his third title.
But world cycling’s ruling body said that only a "very small concentration" of the drug had been found and that the case warranted "further scientific investigation" because the Cologne laboratory that detected the substance is known to be able to detect the tiniest traces of drugs.
