'07 Tour winner Contador to have nasal surgery

MADRID, Spain (AP) -Former Tour de France champion Alberto Contador will have surgery on Monday to relieve a blockage in his nasal passage.

The 25-year-old Spaniard said on Sunday that he will undergo a two-hour operation at Madrid's Ramon and Cajal hospital to relieve the blockage and remove a polyp on his vocal cord. The blockage stems from a May crash during the Giro d'Italia, which he won after winning the Tour in 2007.

"It will keep me from training normally at the team camp in Tenerife,'' Contador said in a statement.

Astana's preseason training camp will be held in on the Spanish island beginning Dec. 4, when Contador and Lance Armstrong will meet for the first time since the seven-time Tour champion came out of retirement to ride for the Kazakh team.

Contador said his return to training would depend on his recovery.

"Perhaps I'll be delayed from preparing for a couple of weeks,'' said Contador, who is targeting a return in time for the Valencia Vuelta early next year.

The Spaniard has vowed that the 37-year-old Armstrong's arrival will not undermine his Tour hopes after he was unable to defend his title this year because Astana was banned from competing over of the team's past doping offenses.