Now Contador Is Out of Le Tour

((HT: NBCSN/TdF))

After defending champ Chris Froome crashed out of the Tour de France in Stage 5, it seemed that it was wide open as to who could take the yellow jersey.

Now, it's even more so as 2-time champ Alberto Contador has crashed out of Stage 10


Anyone...???
Anyone...???

Contador Banned For 2 Years

And he also had his 2000 Tour de France title stripped from his dossier for doping by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Contador blamed contaminated steak for his clenbuterol finding, and to avoid a doping ban, he needed to prove how the anabolic drug entered his body and convince the panel that it wasn't his fault that it got there.

"The Panel found that there were no established facts that would elevate the possibility of meat contamination to an event that could have occurred on a balance of probabilities," CAS said in their finding. "Unlike certain other countries, notably outside Europe, Spain is not known to have a contamination problem with clenbuterol in meat. Furthermore, no other cases of athletes having tested positive to clenbuterol allegedly in connection with the consumption of Spanish meat are known."

Here's part of the race that Contador won, but now hasn't...
((HT: Tour de France/worldcyclingarchives))


And here's reaction from Fabian Cancellara on the ban...
((HT: cyclingnews))


The ban carries through the five-ringed circus...