Banned Contador signs new deal with Saxo Bank

CYCLING: Alberto Contador has agreed a contract extension until 2015 with Team Saxo Bank for when he returns to competition later this year after a doping ban, the Spanish rider and his team said in a statement yesterday. Contador, who was stripped of his 2010 Tour de France title and banned for two years after failing a drugs test for the anabolic agent clenbuterol, is eligible to return to action on 5 August. Contador, who also won the Tour in 2007 and 2009, was given a retroactive ban in February after a high-profile case which was taken all the way to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Meanwhile, France’s Arthur Vichot won stage five of the Criterium du Dauphine yesterday and Bradley Wiggins of Britain remained in the overall lead. Riding for the FDJ-Big Mat team, Vichot attacked from a break of eight with seven kilometres to go on a mountainous stage from Saint-Trivier-sur-Moignans to Rumilly to claim the win. Spain’s Egoi Martinez was second around 25 seconds back, with Kazakh Dimitriy Fofonov in third.