AFP - The cyclist Alberto Contador said Friday he had "never doped" and would "appeal" and fight to the end to prove his innocence at his first press conference after announcement of his suspension for one year.
"I'm going to appeal, where it will be necessary to defend my innocence to the end," Contador said at a news conference in Puigpunyent, near Palma de Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Spain).
"During these ten days I'll work up with my lawyers to see justice done," said Tour de France 2010.
"I never doped myself, I am an example of cleanliness," he said.
Contador, 28, underwent 21 July 2010 in Pau, at a rest day of the Tour de France, a positive drug test that revealed trace amounts of clenbuterol, a product that stimulates lung function and also has anabolic effects.
The three-time winner of the Tour de France has always defended by claiming to have been a victim of food contamination.
He faces a one-year suspension, sanction proposed by the Spanish Cycling Federation, and the loss of his Tour victory in 2010.
The final sanction, subject to appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is to be known until mid-February.
