The Italian Olympic Committee, which oversees cycling generally and enforces doping laws, has asked the anti doping court to suspend Spanish star Alejandro Valverde for two years. As strange as it seems for Italy to suspend a Spaniard, the intent is not merely to ban Valverde from Italian racing, but to have the ban extended worldwide by the UCI. No real news as to the underlying charges: CONI have simply used DNA evidence from the Operacion Puerto bloodbags to connect to Valverde. Presumably those coded bags contained EPO as well. Expect a ruling before the Tour de France.
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