Cycling:Alberto Contador has protested his innocence over the two-year doping ban imposed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and insisted he will return to cycling stronger than ever.
The Spaniard has also been stripped of one of his three Tour de France titles for failing a dope test in the 2010 race. His lawyers are currently considering an appeal, which they must lodge within 30 days.
Contador said: "Everybody has been saying that I'm guilty of something that is against my own moral standpoint. My feeling of injustice is terrible. I have done everything possible to show that I am innocent."
Contador's ban has been applied retrospectively, which means he has already served the 18 months that have elapsed since the race in question. However it means he will miss the London Olympics.
The Spaniard's Saxo Bank team have maintained during the lengthy legal protest that Contador's positive test was due to him eating contaminated meat, a claim that was swiftly rejected by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
At a press conference in his home town near Madrid which was televised by Eurosport, Contador added: "I will continue riding and training cleanly as I have always done. Even though my morale is very low now I will come back to be as good as I have ever been.
"It's incredible, almost unbelievable, how much support I've had. I've had nightmare months when I couldn't sleep, and months when I wanted to go home rather than ride a bike. I want to leave good memories for the fans and have memories of doing my job well. Every victory I've had hasn't just been mine, it's been for all the people. They will decide if I am a champion or not."
Wada president John Fahey today labelled Contador a "doping cheat" and revealed the Spaniard might have escaped with just a one-year ban had it not been for remarks made by a Spanish politician during the case.
The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency added that politicians should steer clear of doping cases and said he was worried as to whether national sports federations, who have the responsibility to discipline offenders, might be sympathetic to their own athletes.
"I think that governments and politicians ought to stand back and stay above the administration of these issues when it comes to doping in sport," Fahey told Reutersin an interview. "Contador is a doping cheat, full stop," he added.
In January last year, the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) initially proposed a one-year ban for Contador after he tested positive for the banned steroid clenbuterol during the 2010 Tour de France, which he won.
The then Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said there was no legal reason to sanction Contador and shortly afterwards, the RFEC overturned the ban, clearing the way for Contador to return to competition.
The International Cycling Union (UCI) and Wada then appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas), who announced a two-year ban for Contador yesterday.
"I can say with regard to the Contador decision, it was regrettable that, when the Spanish federation proposed a 12-month penalty, a senior politician made a statement to say that Contador was innocent," said Fahey, who did not mention Zapatero by name. "They then withdrew their proposed 12-month penalty and exonerated him. That effectively meant that Wada had no choice but to appeal.
"Whatever we would have done if the 12 months had stood, I can't say, but after those set of circumstances came, which suggested there was clearly a bias, certainly by the senior politician who made that statement publicly, then we had to appeal."
PA and Reuters