MADRID, June 21, 2010 – Tour de France hopeful Alberto Contador confirmed Monday he will not be defending his Spanish national time-trial cycling title because of the cold weather in recent days.

“I would have liked to defend this jersey but unfortunately I’m not in form for that,” said the two-time Tour de France champion.

“I’m suffering from a slight cooling,” added Contador, concerning his training base in the Sierra mountain range near Madrid.

Contador has been joined by teammates Paolo Tiralongo of Italy and Spaniards Dani Navarro, David de la Fuente, Jesus Hernandez, Benjamin Noval and Oscar Pereiro ahead of the July 3-25 Tour de France.

Contador finished second in the Dauphine Criterium and had planned to compete in the Spanish championships before the start of the Tour.