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Madrid - Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador, serving a two-year ban for doping, is hoping to compete in this year's Tour of Spain and world championships, he said in an interview with El Mundo newspaper published on Tuesday.
"I want to be in the biggest races. La Vuelta (which begins on August 18) will be the main one at the end of the season, then the world championships" in Valkenburg, Holland, in September.
"I want to be there," he was quoted as saying.
Contador's ban comes to an end on August 6 and he said that he had not asked for the suspension imposed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to be overturned because the deadline for submissions had passed.
"My lawyers explained to me that they didn't see much point in pursuing the case," he said, adding that he had been told that the chances of successfully appealing the ban were "minimal".
Contador said after the February 6 ruling that he had "lost confidence in sporting justice" and called again for a revision of the norms for doping products, in particular the anabolic steroid clenbuterol, because they were "obsolete".
The rider blamed his positive test on a contaminated steak that he ate during the 2010 Tour de France, one of three editions of the race that he won.
He was stripped of the 2010 Tour victory and the ban means he will not be able to compete at this year's Olympics.
