Spaniard continues to serve two-year suspension for Operación Puerto doping case
Spaniard Alejandro Valverde lost another court battle yesterday and continues to serve a two-year doping ban. Switzerland’s civil rights court in Lausanne rejected his appeal that the Court of Arbitration for Sport’ (CAS) May 31 ruling was biased.
The Swiss court also ordered Valverde to pay the court costs of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Cycling Union (UCI).
On May 31, the CAS ruled in favour of UCI’s the WADA’s joint appeal to sanction Valverde based on DNA tests performed by the CONI.
“We consider [CAS’s] sanction totally unjust and illegal,” Valverde said in May. “We will appeal the sanction.”
The CONI, led by head prosecutor Ettore Torri, used DNA tests to link him to the blood found in transfusion bags marked number 18 in the 2006 Operación Puerto investigation in Spain. Valverde received a two-year ban from racing in Italy in May 2009. The ruling prohibited from racing that year’s Tour de France because the route passed through Italy.
The CAS banned Valverde from January 1, 2010, until December 31, 2011. However, it denied UCI’s and WADA’s request that results obtained by Valverde prior to the beginning of the suspension be annulled.
He continued to race until May 2, but the UCI has since annulled all of his results this year, including his second place at Paris-Nice and win at the Tour of Romandie.
Valverde also disagreed with the annulled results. He said, “This is obviously a mistake.”
Prior to his suspension, Valverde was one of Spain’s top riders. He won the Vuelta a España, the Dauphine Libéré twice, Liège-Bastogne-Liège twice, Flèche Wallonne, San Sebastián. He turned professional in 2002 with Kelme and joined Illes Balears-Banesto in 2005, which later changed sponsors to Caisse d’Epargne.