The Swiss Court of Human Rights rejected the appeal of Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) to reverse the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) decision to uphold his ban on racing in Italy. The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) instituted Valverde’s ban in May of last year, which prevented him from taking part in the Tour de France due to its brief incursion on Italian soil.
CONI took blood samples from the rider after he crossed the border during the 2008 Tour de France, and then performed a DNA match with Valverde on the contents of blood bag number 18 that was seized in the Operación Puerto raids.
A two year ban from racing on Italian soil followed, which was recently upheld by the CAS after Valverde and his legal team lodged an unsuccessful challenge. The UCI now has the option to extend this ban worldwide, and is also pursuing a separate CAS appeal in order to force the Spanish federation to impose its own global suspension.
The Murcian turned to the Swiss courts with a compliant that one of the CAS arbitrators, Ulrich Hess, was not neutral since he had previously worked for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).