Aitor Gonzalez handed two-year ban

Newly retired ex-Euskaltel rider and Vuelta a España winner Aitor Gonzalez Jimenez has surprisingly been handed a two-year ban from cycling because of a positive doping test from the Vuelta 2005. Gonzalez was cleared by the Spanish Cycling Federation earlier, but was today handed a two-year ban from the Court of Arbitraition for Sport. Gonzalez announced his retirement last week, so the ban will have no affect on his future plans. Allegedly he tested positive for an illegal steroid compound, something Gonzalez attributed to a contaminated food supplement. "The athlete could not ignore the risks related to such an ingestion taking into account the repeated warnings given in this regard by the sports authorities," the court said in a statement.