An indignant two-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador said he ''totally disagreed'' with his two-year doping ban and vowed to pursue his career at the highest level.
''I am going to continue cycling. I am going to continue practising it cleanly, the way I have my entire life,'' he told a news conference in his home town of Pinto, just south of Madrid, yesterday.
''My mood right now is not the best but I know this will make me stronger in the future,'' he added in his first public comments since the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) handed down its sanction on Monday.
''I cannot understand the sanction that has been imposed on me. As for the decision, I totally disagree.''
Contador, 29, said his lawyers were looking into a possible appeal, which must be lodged within 30 days with Switzerland's supreme court, which is the only body he can still turn to in hopes of being exonerated.
''My lawyers are looking into all the possibilities. We will continue to fight until the end,'' he said.
Considered the most gifted racer of his generation, Contador was handed the ban following a positive test for the banned substance clenbuterol.
Backdated to August 2010, when he announced the news of his positive test weeks after his third yellow jersey triumph, the ban means Contador can return to competition on August 6 this year.
Contador's determination to carry on means he might compete at the Tour of Spain which starts on August 18, a race he won in 2008.
If he is to find any kind of relief from the CAS decision, it is that doping experts believe he did not ingest clenbuterol intentionally. They deemed the Spaniard was likely a victim of a contaminated food supplement.
Contador said he had committed no crime.
''There have been speculations, leaks - it has been a real torment. But the hardest thing has been to see my family, the suffering they have had, my wife, for what they have accused me of,'' Contador said.
+MEANWHILE, the World Anti-Doping Agency has urged US authorities to quickly hand over evidence collected in their two-year probe into seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong and doping in American cycling.
John Fahey, the Australian president of WADA, said federal agencies in the United States gathered ''significant evidence'' in the criminal investigation that was abruptly closed last week with no charges filed and no explanation given.
Fahey said it would be ''very, very helpful if that information was handed over'' to the US Anti-Doping Agency.
''There has been significant evidence taken on anti-doping areas, on what may have occurred in the way of doping. It would be very, very helpful if that information was handed over,'' Fahey said.
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