Geneva:
Tour de France winner Alberto Contador will be investigated for doping during this year's race.
Contador tested positive for banned anabolic agent clenbuterol in the final week of his third Tour victory in July. The decision Monday comes after six weeks of deliberation between the International Cycling Union and the World Anti-Doping Agency. The cycling body provisionally suspended the Spaniard in September.
The UCI did not call for Contador to be investigated for allegedly high levels of plastic residue found in his race urine sample. Scientists believe that can indicate a transfusion of a rider's own blood.
"At the end of a long and meticulous inquiry entrusted to highly qualified, WADA-accredited experts, and considering all the information currently in its possession, the UCI has concluded that disciplinary proceedings should be opened against Alberto Contador," the UCI said in a statement.
Contador denies doping and says the clenbuterol, which can be used to burn fat and build muscle, came from contaminated meat he ate.
"If this is the news then it means we're on the way to resolving this issue," Contador spokesman Jacinto Vidarte said. "Now it will be time to either sanction or resolve Alberto of the matter."
Though the UCI tested riders at the Tour, national authorities have responsibility to prosecute doping cases. If found guilty, Contador would be stripped of the Tour victory and likely banned for two years.
The Spanish federation said on its website it will "immediately carry out ... all the necessary actions to investigate and resolve all the issues arising from the doping control that was carried out on the cyclist."
Contador has threatened to quit the sport, regardless of the outcome of the investigation.
"Until the end of the proceedings and despite his provisional suspension, Alberto Contador still benefits from a presumption of innocence," the UCI said.
The UCI announced in September that Contador's urine sample from the July 21 rest day contained "very small" traces of the banned substance. It then asked WADA for "scientific support" before proceeding.
"For additional safety, considering the very low concentration (of clenbuterol) detected, the UCI continued scientific investigations in collaboration with WADA," it said. "In particular, it conducted a series of new analyses on all the blood and urine samples taken from the rider in the period in question."
Contador won the Tour riding for the Kazakh-backed Astana team, then signed a contract with the Danish Saxo Bank SunGard team.
On Sunday, Saxo Bank team owner Bjarne Riis said in a newspaper interview he believed Contador would be cleared of any doping suspicion. Riis won the 1996 Tour de France, then admitted after retiring he used the banned drug EPO at the time.