Tour de France favourite may face drugs ban

The 2011 Tour de France begins this weekend, and already the race is embroiled in a doping controversy. It centres on last year's winner Alberto Contador, who is hoping to become the first cyclist in 13 years to win the Giro d'Italia and Le Tour in the same year, and after his victory in Italy the 28-year-old Spaniard is a strong favourite to repeat his French triumph of 2010.

Yet looming over Contador is the threat of a drugs ban for an offence dating back to last year's race. He tested positive for the banned substance clenbuterol – a weight loss drug – on the second rest day of last year's Tour and was suspended in August 2010. The Spaniard was subsequently – and some might say unsurprisingly - exonerated by the Spanish Cycling Federation in January this year and given the all-clear to start racing. But the International Cycling Union and the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed against the Spanish Federation's decision and the Court of Arbitration for Sport will sit in judgement in August.

That means that Contador, were he to win this year's Tour de France, might have the title taken from him, along with last year's, should the original ban be upheld.

Contador has labelled the situation "ridiculous", saying: "From the beginning of the season I've been the rider who's had the most doping tests, and I've been tested in all the races I've been in. The idea that victory could be taken away if I win, I just find ridiculous."

That, however, is missing the point. The Court of Arbitration for Sport must decide if Contador knowingly ingested clenbuterol last July or whether, as he always maintained, it came from infected meat unwittingly given to him by his team. If the court believes it to be the former then Contador will receive a lengthy ban – at least two years – backdated to July 2010. Hence the reason he would lose all titles won since then.

In the meantime, Contador is hoping to become the first rider since Italy's Marco Pantani in 1998 to win both the Giro and the Tour. Ironically, Pantani was disqualified from the 1999 Giro for doping offences and five years later he died of acute cocaine poisoning. "I'm very conscious of the fact there has been more pressure on me off the bike, but all I can try and do is fully concentrate on the race," said Contador, adding: "I have to try not to lose focus and get on with what needs to be done to win."

Luxembourg's Andy Schleck, second in last year's Tour, is expected to be the rider to put Contador under most pressure during the 3,430 km race that starts in the Vendee on the Atlantic coast. However, the Team Sky are quietly confident of launching a credible challenge with team leader Bradley Wiggins aiming to improve on his fourth place in 2009 (his best finish to date). Geraint Thomas and Ben Swift are the other two British riders in the nine-strong Team Sky.

After his disappointing Tour in 2010, when he finished 24th, Wiggins has shown great form early in the season and is tipped for a podium finish when the race concludes in Paris on Sunday July 24. "I'm certainly as ready as I've ever been before for a Tour de France," said Wiggins. " I've learned a lot of lessons from last year... [but] it's not about convincing anyone or convincing the fans. I think I've done what I've done until now, and the results speak for themselves."
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