BRUSSELS – Tour de France runner-up Andy Schleck expressed his hope on Thursday that race winner Alberto Contador would prove his innocence after the Spaniard was provisionally suspended for failing a dope test.

“I hope he is innocent and I think he deserves the right to defend himself now,” Schleck wrote on the micro-blogging site Twitter.

“What a crazy day in cycling with the news about Contador. I only heard about it in the press.”

If three-time Tour winner Contador is stripped of his title, Luxembourg’s Schleck would in principle be declared the Tour winner.

Contador has denied doping and claims he is a victim of “food contamination”.

He said he ingested the banned substance, clenbuterol, in meat that he had brought from Spain the day before the control in France on July 21.

But world cycling’s ruling body, the UCI, said that only a “very small concentration” of the drug had been found and that the case warranted “further scientific investigation” because the Cologne laboratory that detected the substance is known to be able to detect the tiniest traces of drugs.

Former Astana team leader Contador has not competed in a major race since his Tour victory. He is due to leave Astana at the end of the year after signing a two-year contract with Schleck’s Saxo Bank team.