Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador confirmed this Saturday that he will defend his title in this year's Tour de France.

Contador, who has already won the Tour three times, had previously refused to confirm his presence in the line up of this year's edition of the most important cycle race in the world, which begins on June 2.

The Spaniard announced his decision to ride in this year's race after taking place in the cycle event organized by his home town cycling club in the town of Pinto, which is south of Madrid.

Contador's victory in last year's Tour de France was marred when it was revealed that he had tested positive for a small amount of the banned substance clembuterol during the race.

The rider defended himself by arguing that the positive test had been caused by eating contaminated steak brought to him by a friend from Spain. He was originally suspended for a year, but on appeal the Spanish Cycling Federation accepted his excuse, despite the fact that no cattle tested positive for clembuterol in 2010.

The governing body of World Cycling, the UCI announced they would appeal the decision to lift Contador's suspension and the case will be heard on August 1.

Should that decision go against Contador, the rider would lose all of the titles he has won since his positive test. That includes his win in last year's Tour, this year's Giro de Italia (Tour of Italy).

Meanwhile nobody has been able to win the Giro de Italia and the Tour in the same year since the Italian rider Marco Pantani did so in 1998. Pantani's career was later ended by doping scandals and he died of a drug overdose in 2004.