Contador set to hear fate

Lausanne - The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will announce their verdict on three-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador's doping case on February 6, the organisation said on Monday.

A verdict was initially set for mid-January, but CAS opted to delay the ruling, blaming the delay on media allegations of bias against the three-man arbitration panel.

Contador tested positive for the banned anabolic agent clenbuterol during the 2010 Tour de France, but the Spaniard was cleared by the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) in February 2011, prompting the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and International Cycling Union (UCI) to appeal the decision to CAS.

The 29-year-old Spaniard claimed he had ingested the banned substance by eating a contaminated steak, an explanation which satisfied the RFEC but which failed to pass muster with the International Cycling Union (UCI) and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

If CAS upholds the appeal the Spaniard faces a competition ban and being stripped of his 2010 Tour de France title and the Giro d'Italia, which he won for a second time last year, and any other victories since July 2010.