Swiss rule against Valverde, uphold CAS ruling. Game over.

//Swiss rule against Valverde, uphold CAS ruling. Game over.

Swiss rule against Valverde, uphold CAS ruling. Game over.

Valverde: out of appeals.

Time, at last, is up for Alejandro “borrowed time” Valverde.

The Swiss Court of Civil Rights denied Alejandro Valverde’s appeal of his two year ban from racing in Italy. Yes, justice isn’t swift but it is Swiss as they upheld the  Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision to enforce the two-year ban.

Are we finally at the end of the four year Operacion Puerto saga? Have we at long last reached a resolution on Valverde’s global ban for blood doping. One never knows but it sure feels definite. Valverde and his legal team are fast running out of options and Pat McQuaid’s band of hesitant UCI lawyers are free to ban the Spanish rider now that other courts have done the hard, dirty work.

The current Vuelta champion managed to squeeze one last podium appearance in this weekend, taking third in Liege-Bastogne-Liege. La Doyenne was his denouement, swan song, the long goodbye, the final tapas.

It’s to his credit and incredible mental strength that considering the stress of his endless legal trials, Valverde won over 20 major ProTour events since his alleged involvement in Operacion Puerto. He’s even grown a new head of hair while waiting for the glacial wheels of justice to turn.

Here at Twisted Spoke we’ve had a special axe to grind about Valverde. He’s an immensely talented rider, his style of racing is exciting, fans appreciate his passion for attacking and according to many, he’s an approachable and friendly rider always available to chat with fans.

However, it’s been clear for years that the man was guilty, hypocritical and an embarrassment to cycling. It’s also an insult to every rider who finished behind him on the podium during his four year run while still under investigation.

Part of the sad aftermath of the Valverde ruling will be the debate about which titles to strip. There might be a lot of shiny hardware leaving the shelves at Valverde’s house. Less things to dust, UCI Spring cleaning.

Those decisions will be yet another mess, one created by the lack of a governing body capable of governing. There’s not great triumph in a verdict that comes at least three years late. It’s also an indictment of the nationalist Spanish Cycling Federation and the astonishing inability of the UCI to guide the sport.

Today we salute the man who told the truth all those years when nobody in Spain wanted to listen: former teammate Jesus Marzano. It’s the end of a long, ugly story and we hope Jesus gained a small measure of redemption today.

Time is up on the borrowed time.

By |2019-02-03T16:29:36-08:00April 26th, 2010|Doping|6 Comments

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6 Comments

  1. henkio April 26, 2010 at 10:35 am - Reply

    “Are we finally at the end of the four year Operacion Puerto saga?”
    I might have missed some, but any news on who the following guys are?
    Cowboy? Panticosa? Pavarotti? Pepito? Obelisk? Nibelungo? LAS? MZD? Clasicomano? Gemma? Rosa?

    It’s not over yet 🙂

  2. FanDeSoler April 26, 2010 at 10:59 am - Reply

    don’t forget the “mysterious” blood bag marked ‘AC’. I know ol’ Pistolero has been officially cleared, but I’m always surprised how little of a story that has become.

  3. Henkio April 26, 2010 at 11:19 am - Reply

    Didn’t Wilcockson isn’t he close to Armstrong? Might as well also throw a link in then: http://nyvelocity.com/content/interviews/2009/michael-ashenden

    Vino served his full suspension, some people never will. You decide what’s worse.

  4. Johnny Masury April 27, 2010 at 11:19 am - Reply

    I was complaining to a buddy about how much doping goes on in professional cycling. He said, “There should be two leagues, one for dopers and one for the clean riders”. I asked him, “Who would sponsor the dopers?”. He didn’t have an answer. I then told him that Rock Racing tried it and lost. Maybe there is hope for Alejandro Valverde. Here is a nice spoof for a blog post, Alejandro Valverde to revive the Rock Racing team with Michael Ball.

  5. […] In the meantime Valverde would go on to win Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Clasica San Sebastian, the 2008 ProTour title and the 2009 Vuelta a España. You can’t beat that for embarrasment. In all, he’d win over 20 races of note and even had time to grown a new head of hair. […]

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