Alberto Contador won this year's Tour for Astana

Alberto Contador is relaxed about the launch of a preliminary investigation into suspect medical material that was seized during the 2009 Tour de France.

Syringes and transfusion equipment believed to belong to teams were found in medical waste containers during the race and are currently being analysed.

But the Spaniard, who rides for Astana and won this year's Tour, said: "Astana was the Tour's most scrutinised team.

"I heard they were looking into our waste but I'm absolutely relaxed."

America's Lance Armstrong, who has won the Tour seven times, came out of retirement to ride with Astana and finished third.

He said: "I don't have any answers because I don't know anything about the case.

"But I'm confident that our team has been racing clean. We just have to deal with it and get on with it."

A spokeswoman for Paris prosecutors said: "It (the material) is now being analysed by experts."

Astana have denied French media claims that it is one of the teams involved.

Spain's Contador is still under contract with the Kazakh-funded outfit, while Armstrong left to launch his own squad, Team RadioShack.

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In a statement issued on Tuesday, Astana said it was "surprised to read in the French press that the team is involved in an investigation by French prosecutors into doping.

"Astana Cycling Team has nothing to hide, (its) riders use no forbidden substances, the team is confident in the result of analyses performed or to be performed by a Parisian laboratory and is prepared to cooperate."

The prosecutors' office has not specified which teams are linked to the investigation.

She added: "The material is being analysed to determine whether we can find illegal substances and DNA that could possibly link it to riders."

Under French law, a preliminary investigation is launched to determine whether there is sufficient ground to open a formal investigation.

While there were no positive tests at this year's Tour, authorities did seize drugs that the French anti-doping agency's scientific adviser said raised questions.

The drugs - which include treatments for diabetes, high blood pressure and convulsions suffered by manic-depressives - are not banned but are "incongruous" in top-level athletes, professor Michel Rieu told French news agency AP last week.

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