Alejandro Valverde's third appeal rejected
Alejandro Valverde’s appeal to overturn his Italian doping suspension has been denied, his third loss. Had he won the latest appeal, Valverde would still not have been allowed to compete due to his global ban, but it would have been a stepping stone to overturning
the global ban as well.
“The current appeal must be rejected," stated the ruling, which explained that his arguments were “unfounded and lacking a basis in fact.”
The Spanish cyclist won the Vuelta a Espana in 2009 but was dealt a two-year ban from competition in May of 2010, which had its roots in the Operación Puerto investigations. He was implicated in the Puerto scandal in 2006 but the Italian Olympic Committee
(CONI) only received hard evidence when the Tour de France passed through Italy in 2008 and the investigators were able to match blood taken from Valverde at that event to blood bags seized in the Puerto case.
The Italians instigated a doping investigation, which eventually resulted in the Spaniard’s ban from competition. Valverde appealed first to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which ruled in favour of the sanction. He then appealed to the Swiss Federal
Tribunal, which denied his appeal earlier in November.
"We consider [CAS's] sanction totally unjust and illegal," said Valverde to the media May. "We will appeal the sanction."
The Spaniard accused CONI of acting illegally in their collecting of evidence and accused one of the arbitrators of biases due to having been previously employed by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Valverde’s suspension will remain in effect until December 31, 2011. His team Caisse d’Epargne, which will be officially changing its name to Movistar next season, has expressed that he is welcome back to the team once his sanction has been served.
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