CONTADOR DENIED CHANCE TO DEFEND TOUR TITLE

Alberto Contador Tour 2007 OFS

Astana?s exclusion from the Tour de France means that for the third successive year the race will start without the previous year?s winner.

ASO has been at pains to stress that its decision is not aimed at Alberto Contador but at the Astana team.

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Sports journalist Lionel Birnie has written professionally for Sunday Times, Procycling and of course Cycling Weekly. He is also an author, publisher, and co-founder of The Cycling Podcast. His first experience covering the Tour de France came in 1999, and he has presented The Cycling Podcast with Richard Moore and Daniel Friebe since 2013. He founded Peloton Publishing in 2010 and has ghostwritten and published the autobiography of Sean Kelly, as well as a number of other sports icons.