Team Saxo Bank-SunGard's Alberto Contador is free to defend his Tour de France title, after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) earlier today decided to hear his doping case after the tour ends.

The court said it would hear the case from Aug. 1-3, more than a week after the 2011 Tour de France finishes in Paris on July 24.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) are challenging the Spanish cycling federation's decision to clear the three-time Tour de France champion of doping after he tested positive for the banned anabolic agent clenbuterol last July. A tribunal accepted Contador's explanation that he consumed the drug in contaminated beef.

Contador secured his second Giro d'Italia victory last weekend and will again be the favorite to win the Tour de France, meaning a guilty verdict by CAS could see the Spanish rider stripped of two victories in the sport's biggest race for a single positive test.

UCI spokesman Enrico Carpani confirmed that the governing body's and WADA's rules called for a sanctioned rider to lose all race results gained since the date of a test.

"We will ask for disqualification of all the results since the day of the (doping) control," Carpani said in a phone interview and added "However, the UCI is open to any decision taken by the CAS and will accept it without any problem."

Carpani said the governing body wanted road cycling fans to support the legal process even if they objected to Contador competing in the Tour de France under circumstances "considered negative."

"We invite everyone to accept this. We know that some people could be a little bit disappointed," he said.

That includes Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme.

"We kept saying and repeating since last autumn that we wanted the case to be settled before the start of the Tour de France," Prudhomme said in a phone interview and continued "Unfortunately it won't be the case. There is procedure, and in his case the appeal doesn't come with a suspension. This year he already raced in Portugal, in Spain, in Belgium, and he just won the Giro d'Italia. There is nothing we can do."

CAS had originally planned to hear the case between June 6 and June 8, aiming to issue a verdict by the end of the month. That would have either exonerated Contador or barred him from starting the Tour de France 2011 on July 2, but the dates were pushed back to give both sides more time to prepare.

Despite the uncertainty in his career, Contador has won a series of stage races this season, including the three-week Giro d'Italia that ended this past weekend.