On Saturday, Alberto Contador confirmed that he will defend his title at next months Tour de France despite his ongoing doping allegations, according to the Spanish media.

Contador broke the news at a cycling event organized in his home town of Pinto, near media. Contador said, “Yes, I’m going to the Tour.” If Contador takes the Giro title and Tour title, he will be the first to have accomplished a double since Marco Pantani in 1998.

The 28-year-old has won the Tour de France three times but his last win in 2010 is still awaiting ratification from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Contador tested positive for an extremely small amount of the banned drug clenbuterol during the 2010 Tour, but was cleared by his national cycling federation. The decision from the Spanish federation to clear Contador promted an appeal to the CAS from the UCI and the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA), which will be heard in court in August after the end of the Tour de France.

On Sunday, Contador will leave to recon the final three mountain stages of this years Tour and ride the Grenoble time trial course, which many of his rivals rode this week the the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré.

Contador also announced that he will compete in both the road race and time trial in the Spanish national championships.

Written by: Alex Kehr on June 11, 2011.