Top Spanish cyclist Contador to retire after Tour of Spain

Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador reaches the finish line during the 104th Tour de France cycling race in France on July 22, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

MADRID - Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador on Monday announced that he is going to retire at the end of the current season.

The 34-year-old, who recently finished ninth in this year's Tour de France while riding for the Trek-Segafredo team, confirmed he will ride in this year's Vuelta de Espana (Tour of Spain) which starts on Aug 19 and that will be his final race.

Contador will be remembered as a fine climber and an aggressive attack minded rider and one of the best and most successful riders of his generation.

He won the Tour de France in 2007 and 2009, the Giro de Italia in 2008 and 2015 and the Vuelta de Espana in 2008, 2012 and 2014.

However, his career has also been tainted with controversy after he was stripped of the 2010 Tour de France after testing positive for clenbuterol and forced to serve a two-year doping ban.

He also spent much of his career working for controversial sporting directors, Manolo Saiz, Johan Bruyneel and Bjarne Riis, with Riis having been linked to doping as a rider.

Saiz was deeply implicated in the 2006 Operation Puerto doping scandal while at the Liberty Seguros team, when Contador was on the roster and Bruyneel was the team director at the US Postal and Discovery cycling teams, which also used systematic doping to achieve results for riders such as Lance Armstrong and is currently serving a 10-year-ban.