Alberto Contador planning to retire after 2016 season

Alberto Contador plans to retire after the end of the 2016 season, meaning his career will end at the age of 33 - or that's what he is reported to have told a Spanish journalist.

The news came in a tweet by Juan Gutierrez, a journalist with Spanish sports daily, AS.

Gutierrez is attending the launch today of the 2015 development squads of the Tinkoff-Saxo rider's Fundacion Contador.

In the tweet, he said: "I have news. Alberto Contador has announced that 2016 will be his last season as a cyclist."

Hay noticia: Alberto Contador anuncia que 2016 será su última temporada como ciclista.

— Juan Gutierrez Guti (@Juan_Guti) February 16, 2015

Quoted in the Guardian later, Contador said: "I would like to retire being at the top.This year, I will definitely be competing and also next year. I cannot confirm it but that could be my last. Yes, beyond 2016, I don’t see myself [competing].

“I don’t want to put an exact date because many things can happen. Imagine that I fall in the Tour in 2016 then I would not like to retire in that way but right now I don’t see myself competing for more than two years.”

“I feel very good,” he continued. “Physically I recover very well from training and I am really enthusiastic and happy with the team that I have around me. It’s true that the years go by and although I feel really well, I don’t know how many more years I could be competing in the great races and I don’t want to reach that limit.”

The Spaniard, who is aiming to become the first man since Marco Pantani in 1998 to win the Tour de Franec and Giro d'Italia in the same year, added: “My plan is to compete at the Giro and the Tour and I don’t want to be second in either of them.

"I just want to win both although we have to wait and see what happens. Many people consider this challenge to win two Grand Tours impossible, so you can imagine three. I would only compete in La Vuelta this year if I have an accident in the Tour.

“I reiterate that I will only compete to win. I’m never satisfied. Victory is the only thing I think of.”

One of only two men currently riding to have won all three Grand Tours - Vincenzo Nibali is the other - Contador was given a mostly backdated two-year ban after testing positive for clenbuterol during the 2010 Tour de France.

He was stripped of that title, which he won as an Astana rider, as well as the 2011 Giro d'Italia, by when he was riding for Saxo Bank.

Contador crashed out of last year's Tour de France with a broken fibula halfway through the race, but returned to win the Vuelta in September.

There has been speculation in recent months about when Contador might retire.

His current contract with Tinkoff-Saxo ends this season, and last week team owner Oleg Tinkov said that while he would like him to sign for another year, this could be his final season in the peloton.