Three-time Tour de France winner tested positive for banned drug

The scandal-riddled world of professional cycling was rocked again Wednesday when Spain's Alberto Contador, a three-time winner of the Tour de France, was suspended by the sport's governing body after testing positive for a banned substance during this year's race.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) announced in Paris that "a very small concentration" of the steroid clenbuterol was discovered in Contador's July 21 urine sample taken during the Tour.

According to an accredited laboratory in Cologne, Germany, both the urine samples that cyclists are required to give tested positive. As a result, Contador has been "formally and provisionally suspended," according to a UCI statement, Orlando Sentinel says.

According to a statement from Contador spokesman, sportsman has consulted experts who "agreed ... this is a food contamination case." A positive result could cause authorities to strip the title from Contador and suspend him for two years. This comes four years after American Floyd Landis had a positive test after winning the Tour and lost his title.

Clenbuterol, used by asthma patients, is on the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned substances list and is also banned by the international cycling organization that sets Tour anti-doping rules, Los Angeles Times reports.