Bjarne Riis lost the Schleck brothers but gained Alberto Contador for two years

(Photo: Chris Henry)

Three-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador of Spain has signed a two-year contract with the Saxo Bank-Sungard team managed by Bjarne Riis. The move announced Tuesday comes nine days after Contador claimed his third Tour win in four years for Astana by a margin of 39 seconds on Luxembourg's Andy Schleck.

As Contador arrives Schleck and his brother Frank are leaving, having spent five and eight years respectively alongside Danish manager Riis - the pair are due to join a home-based outfit.

"Alberto is a world class rider and it's with great pride that I can welcome him onboard the team for the next two years," Riis said in a statement. "With three Tour de France victories on his resume and a position as number one on the world rankings, he is sure to stay at the very top for several years to come."

"Alberto will get a solid, strong and loyal team around him to support him in all terrains and I'm sure that this will be a fruitful 

alliance," Riis added.

(Photo: Roberto Bettini)

Contador said he was "very happy and excited about signing a two-year contract with Riis Cycling."

"Historically, Riis Cycling has always been successful and together we will have the ability to play a very important role in the world of cycling in the years to come," he added.

The Spanish rider spent three seasons with Astana following the disbanding of his previous team Discovery Channel, with whom he won his first Tour title in 2007. During his time at Astana he won a Giro d'Italia and Spanish Vuelta title as well as two of his three Tour de France titles.

Contador, who won cycling's premier event in 2007, 2009 and 2010, is the ninth cyclist to win the Tour de France at least three times.

Aside from Contador's arrival Riis also announced Tuesday that Saxo Bank had signed a new deal to act as co-sponsor of the team with SunGard in 2011 - the full name for his outfit will be Saxo Bank-SunGard Professional Cycling Team.

This represents a change of heart for Saxo Bank who had announced last year that they would end their funding of Riis's outfit at the end of 2010. The team's co-sponsor Sungard is an information technology (IT) company which was already one of the team's several sponsors.