Embattled five-time Grand Tour winner, Alberto Contador, has left his Saxo Bank team's training camp in Mallorca to return home.
"When I received the news two days ago, I said to Bjarne Riis, I would like to go home. I want to go home to my family and my friends," said Contador according to several Spanish news sources and quoted in feltet.dk.
Up to this point, both Contador and his Saxo Bank team have put on a brave face and continued as if last year's Tour de France winner would race the season as normal. Contador has been a part of each of the team's preseason training camps, but this week's news that the Spanish Cycling Federation would recommend a one year suspension for the native of Pinto proved to be the breaking point.
The recently turned 28 year old star's problems began with a positive test on the 21st of July during the Tour de France. He tested positive for trace amounts of clenbuterol, 50 pictograms to be exact. Contador has claimed contaminated meat as the cause of the positive all along, but it has been an uphill battle to prove that it could be a reasonable explanation for the test result.
Unsurprisingly, Contador does not plan to bow quietly to the proposed one year ban, vowing to fight on to clear his name.
"I disagree with this decision, and I will, if necessary, defend my innocence."