Valverde ban upheld

Spanish cyclist Alejandro Valverde has had his appeal against a worldwide two-year doping ban dismissed by Switzerland’s Federal Supreme Court.

The 30-year-old has been trying to overturn the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport last May to ban him until January 2012.

The CAS ruling came after a successful appeal by the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to have the 2009 Tour of Spain winner’s ban from competition in Italy extended worldwide.

Valverde was first handed a ban by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) in May 2009.

That decision came when the body’s anti-doping tribunal decided the Spaniard was involved in Operacion Puerto, a case in which more than 50 cyclists were linked to a suspected doping ring centred on a clinic in Madrid.

DNA taken from Valverde during the Italian stage of the 2008 Tour de France matched blood seized in Operacion Puerto.

The CAS hearing decided the evidence was sufficient to prove the blood seized in Operacion Puerto came from Valverde, and that the sample contained EPO, a prohibited substance.

Valverde had been number one in the UCI world rankings when CAS handed down his two-year ban.

A statement from the Federal Supreme Court today confirmed they had dismissed his appeal.