"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Italian tribunal delivers Valverde two-year suspension

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2009/may09/may11news3

Alejandro Valverde received a two-year suspension from the Italian anti-doping tribunal today in Rome for his connections to the 2006 doping investigation Operación Puerto. The decision prohibits the Spaniard, 29, from racing in Italy and the Tour de France, which passes through the country this year.

:wtf:

oops

oops

^ This.

Vuelta and World's, here comes Valverde.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2009/may09/may11news3

Alejandro Valverde received a two-year suspension from the Italian anti-doping tribunal today in Rome for his connections to the 2006 doping investigation Operación Puerto. The decision prohibits the Spaniard, 29, from racing in Italy and the Tour de France, which passes through the country this year.

Excellent. Now the other countries should get on board. His blood was CLEARLY found (verified via DNA) as part of Operation Puerto. He should be banned for at least 2 years if not more.

... Brad

Now he can't race this year's tour because one of the stages goes through Italy.

Excellent. Now the other countries should get on board. His blood was CLEARLY found (verified via DNA) as part of Operation Puerto. He should be banned for at least 2 years if not more.

... Brad

The UCI will issue it's ban shortly. He's done for the foreseeable future.

The UCI will issue it's ban shortly. He's done for the foreseeable future.

Yup, that would be my guess/hope also.

... Brad

I somewhat feel for the guy; am a bit conflicted. Yes, I think he violated the rules, for certain, but it's a shame that he's probably been 'clean' [or at least under more scrutiny/biological passport] for the past few years, and is only getting slammed now.

An unfortunate case.

-bullseye

I somewhat feel for the guy; am a bit conflicted. Yes, I think he violated the rules, for certain, but it's a shame that he's probably been 'clean' [or at least under more scrutiny/biological passport] for the past few years, and is only getting slammed now.

An unfortunate case.

-bullseye

This is part of the long term plan for the UCI to destroy professional cycling. It's a little known fact that the UCI has always hated cycling, and cyclists in general. If they can continually dredge up charges against riders then the negative press will never end. It's just part of the plan, along with banning anything interesting that a company builds for it's TT bikes. My guess is that 2012 is the date they are shooting for to end cycling as a professional sport. They picked that date as it coincides with the end of the world according the all the Mayan calender.

This is part of the long term plan for the UCI to destroy professional cycling. It's a little known fact that the UCI has always hated cycling, and cyclists in general. If they can continually dredge up charges against riders then the negative press will never end. It's just part of the plan, along with banning anything interesting that a company builds for it's TT bikes. My guess is that 2012 is the date they are shooting for to end cycling as a professional sport. They picked that date as it coincides with the end of the world according the all the Mayan calender.

Dark.

soo he gets to spend 3 years with this cloud over his head, and getting kicked from some races (more if the UCI had gotten their way), and after all that he gets a 2 year ban from the biggest races going. All for having blood in a lab that had ties to doping? Ugh...

and Manny gets a 50 game suspension.

and Manny gets a 50 game suspension.

50 games for Manny is likely a larger financial hit than 2 years for Valverde.

soo he gets to spend 3 years with this cloud over his head, and getting kicked from some races (more if the UCI had gotten their way), and after all that he gets a 2 year ban from the biggest races going. All for having blood in a lab that had ties to doping? Ugh...

Basso was suspended for essentially the same thing.

It must be summer. Ahhhh doping. How I missed you...

soo he gets to spend 3 years with this cloud over his head, and getting kicked from some races (more if the UCI had gotten their way), and after all that he gets a 2 year ban from the biggest races going. All for having blood in a lab that had ties to doping? Ugh...

No, for having his blood, which was found in a doping lab, test positive for EPO.

First the blood tested positive for EPO. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2006/nov06/nov26news

Now, the DNA confirms that it was his blood. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2009/may09/may11news3
If he had wanted to clear this up faster and not been subject to the 3 year cloud, he could have voluntarily submitted DNA samples.

He cheated. He deserves to be punished.

50 games for Manny is likely a larger financial hit than 2 years for Valverde.

Doubtful, Manny is going to lose in the neighborhood of 750k. Valverde is probably making somewhere north of a mil a year.

No, for having his blood, which was found in a doping lab, test positive for EPO.

First the blood tested positive for EPO. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2006/nov06/nov26news

Now, the DNA confirms that it was his blood. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2009/may09/may11news3
If he had wanted to clear this up faster and not been subject to the 3 year cloud, he could have voluntarily submitted DNA samples.

He cheated. He deserves to be punished.

Exactly..besides these guys know the rules...the WADA/UCI doping code is rather broad...you dance with the devil and eventually you gonna get burned...I've always rooted for V but he got torched this time.

Doubtful, Manny is going to lose in the neighborhood of 750k. Valverde is probably making somewhere north of a mil a year.

More like $8 million and change for Manny, according to ESPN. 50 games is roughly one-third of the season.

More like $8 million and change for Manny, according to ESPN. 50 games is roughly one-third of the season.

Yep, sorry I misread the article it's more like 750k per week!

Yep, sorry I misread the article it's more like 750k per week!

He's not hurting, regardless. Hell, he's probably happy for the vacation.

No, for having his blood, which was found in a doping lab, test positive for EPO.


While I have little doubt that he is guilty of doping, I am curious about this combination of facts being relevant.

Was the blood taken as a sample to test for doping?

If a doping lab is disreputable, it wouldn't be too far fetched to consider the possibility that they somehow got a sample of some clean riders' blood and contaminated the samples with EPO in order to make it look like the number of guilty riders was more than it actually was. This might be done to try to get the officials to take it easier on the riders... Saying to themselves something like, "you can't get a speeding ticket if everyone is driving over the speed limit." Obviously a plan (if it happened) that backfired. ;)

What I am really sating is that the chain of evidence isn't as solid as if the sample was taken by an official tester. Nor would I trust the sample as far as the level of any substances in it... I would not trust it to have been handled appropriately.

However, the fact that V's blood/DNA was there at all, regardless of whether there were any performance enhancers in it or not is compelling.