Spain shows support for disgraced hero Contador

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish officials rallied behind national hero Alberto Contador Monday after he was handed a two-year ban by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for failing a dope test during the 2010 Tour de France and stripped of the title.

Alejandro Blanco, the president of the country's Olympic Committee (COE), said it had been "a bad day for cycling and for Spanish sport" but that he still believed Contador was innocent.

"I want to express my respect for Alberto and I am waiting (for him to begin competing again) so he can show he is a champion once more," Blanco, who is leading Madrid's bid for the 2020 summer Olympic Games, was quoted as saying in local media.

"I continue to believe in his innocence, in Alberto," he added.

Jose Luis De Santos, national team coach at the Spanish cycling federation (RFEC), said as well as a blow to Contador the CAS decision was a setback for the sport in Spain as the rider was the nation's "reference point in the grand tours."

However, he said he did not believe anyone involved in cycling could "doubt Alberto's integrity."

"People in the world of sport have seen that Alberto is innocent," De Santos said.

"He has elevated the values of sport, of effort and of sacrifice to the maximum to reach the highest level."

Luxembourg's Andy Schleck, who will be awarded the 2010 Tour title after finishing the race in second, and Italy's Michele Scarponi, who will get Contador's 2011 Giro d'Italia title, would not be happy to be handed victory in this manner, De Santos added.

The CAS ruling means Contador, who has threatened to end his career if found guilty, will miss this year's Tour and the London Olympic Games. He has 30 days to appeal to the Swiss federal court.

The 29-year-old has always maintained that traces of the banned anabolic agent clenbuterol found in his body came from contaminated meat.

CAS said they did not believe his explanation and decided on a retroactive ban - meaning he can begin competing again in August - and also nullified all the titles he won last year, including his Giro triumph.

The RFEC, whose decision to clear Contador was the subject of an appeal by the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), said it "respected" the CAS ruling.

However, the federation added that it "regretted" the punishment Contador had been given and that CAS had opted for "an extreme application" of WADA rules.

(Reporting by Iain Rogers, editing by Justin Palmer)