Giovanni Petrucci, president on the Italian Olympic Committee, is trying to increase the pressure for a decision on extending Alejandro Valverde’s (Caisse d’Epargne) two-year doping ban on Italian soil worldwide. This follows news yesterday in the Italian press of the Spaniard’s failed bid to overturn the decision to uphold the ban by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in the Swiss Court of Human Rights.
Valverde turned to the Swiss courts complaining that one of the CAS arbitrators, Ulrich Hess, was not neutral since he had previously worked for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
According to DCRS Online, Petrucci has asked the president of the Italian Cycling Federation, Renato Di Rocco, who is also the vice president of the International Cycling Union (UCI), to help move the decision for a global ban conversion along within the sport’s governing body.
CONI took blood samples from Valverde when the Tour de France crossed the Italian border during the 2008 edition of the race. It then compared and matched his DNA with the contents of blood bag number 18 that was seized during the Operación Puerto raids, resulting in a suspension that is now only effective Italy.
The UCI’s rules allow them to convert any other national federation’s ban to a global ban, which would prevent the Spaniard from competing until May of next year. The UCI is currently awaiting the decision on a CAS appeal they lodged jointly with the World Anti-Doping Association (WADA) that would force the Spanish federation to impose its own global suspension. The UCI estimates that the verdict will be announced in May and, if successful, would then force the Spanish federation to take disciplinary action resulting in a full two-year global ban.