LES ESSARTS, France, July 3, 2011 (AFP) – Tour de France champion Alberto Contador reiterated his innocence and said he looked forward to resolving his “difficult” year as he lost more time to key rivals in the race on Sunday.

Contador is racing in spite of a pending decision from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), expected in August, which could ban him from the sport following a positive test for clenbuterol on the 2010 Tour.

The Spaniard, the race winner in 2007, 2009 and 2010, said he ingested the banned substance when he ate a contaminated steak — a claim that was accepted by the Spanish cycling authorities, thus allowing him to race.

The Saxo Bank rider has endured a bumpy two first days in the race, losing time to key rivals to sit 75th overall at 1min 42sec off the pace of new race leader Thor Hushovd.

But as he promised to fight on during the remaining 19 stages, he reiterated his innocence and said he looked forward to being cleared next month.

“This situation is not good for anybody, for me or the race. I’m the first person to want to see a resolution to this,” Contador said.

“The experts know this is not about a case of doping. It’s been a hard year for everyone, for my family and everyone connected with me. I hope it is resolved quickly, and I’m feeling optimistic.”

After losing over a minute to main rivals Andy Schleck of Luxembourg and Australian Cadel Evans, Contador lost more time to the pair after the second stage team time-trial which his team finished eighth at 28sec behind Garmin.

He is now 1:41 behind Evans and 1:38 behind Schleck.