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UCI bars Valverde from world's

By Agence France Presse
Published: Aug. 29, 2007

The UCI announced Wednesday that it has barred Spaniard Alejandro Valverde, the UCI ProTour champion in 2006, from riding in next month's world championships in Stuttgart, Germany.

A UCI statement issued Wednesday noted that investigators suspect Valverde may be involved in the Spanish police's Operacion Puerto inquiry into Eufemiano Fuentes, the doctor said to have designed doping programs for athletes in several sports. "During the meticulous studying of the 6000-page Puerto dossier, the UCI has concluded that several documents may show the involvement of Alejandro Valverde in the affair," it said.

The UCI said it had requested the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) to open disciplinary proceedings against the rider as soon as possible. "These proceedings would not imply any guilt on the part of AlejandroValverde. "However, according to UCI regulations, and to safeguard the atmosphere and reputation of the world championships, Alejandro Valverde will be prevented from participating in the forthcoming UCI Road World Championships in Stuttgart." The UCI added that if the Spanish rider's involvement in the Puerto affair was confirmed and he were to receive at least a two-year suspension, then as a signatory of the "Riders' Commitment to a New Cycling," Valverde "would be obliged to pay the UCI a contribution to the anti-doping campaign of a sum equal to his annual salary for 2007, in addition to any regulatory fines." The German city of Stuttgart will host the world cycling championshipsbetween September 25-30. The Spanish Cycling Federation last September publicly supported Valverde, with chairman Fulgencio Sanchez saying: "We refute the accounts in certain media on a supposed implication of Valverde in Operacion Puerto."

Valverde had already said he would not compete in the Vuelta a Espana,starting this weekend and in which he finished runner-up last year, in orderto concentrate on the world championships.

Last year, he finished behind Vuelta winner Alexandre Vinokourov, who tested positive for blood doping on this year's scandal-plagued Tour de France. The RFEC said in a statement that it had called on its secretary general and legal team to study the case of Valverde and would not in the meantime make an official comment.