CYCLIST CONTADOR PREPARES FOR LAST GRAND TOUR RIDE

Two-time Tour de France winner

Alberto Contador will retire next month after riding in the Spanish Vuelta. Contador announced his plan to stop racing on a video posted Monday on Instagram. The Spanish rider said the Vuelta “will be my last race as a professional cyclist.” “It’s a decision that I have thought (about) very well, and I don’t think there is a better farewell than in the home race and in my country,” he said. The three-week Vuelta starts Aug. 19. Second only to fivetime Tour winner Miguel Indu

rain in Spanish cycling lore, the 34-year-old has been one of the sport’s top riders for the last decade in a contentious career. He accumulated seven grand tour titles, winning the Spanish Vuelta three times and the Giro d’Italia twice. Only five other riders have won the three grand tours. Contador won the Tour de France in 2007 and 2009. But in 2012 he was stripped of a third Tour title from 2010 and banned for two years for doping. The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected Contador’s claim that his positive test for clenbuterol was caused by eating contaminated meat on a 2010 Tour rest day.