Valverde Facing a Two-Year Ban

[Mellow Velo]

Coni have acted. They have called for a two year ban on Valverde.
Initially, this will only be for Italy, but quite possibly, the UCI will extend the suspension, worldwide.
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/01042009/58/valverde-charged-doping-offence.html

 

[Stani Kléber]

Excellent, this will put an end to his ridiculous denials.

It's a shame it took a Spanish judge to go on holiday for the Italians to get the DNA profile. In other words, random events conspired to bring justice.

Sadly though it seems only those who banked blood with Fuentes will ever face punishment. Documents show the Spanish doctor was overseeing extensive doping programes with EPO, CERA, IGF, HGH for other riders but there is obviously no DNA proof for this.

 

[hawkeye87]

It's about time!

Does the Tour go through Italy this year? Contador may want to avoid that route since he was a Puerto guy too even though Spain cleared him (all of their riders are clean ).

 

[BroDeal]

I Piti the fool.

 

[Power13]

Fookin UCI....once again abdicating their role.

So why does it take the ITALIANS to request a ban of a SPANISH rider?

Un-fookin-real.

OP was been screwed up from day one.....

 

[LugHugger]

Unfortunately, I believe that the OP investigation set cycling up as the fall guy to divert attention from the other, some would say more prominent sports, individuals and teams that have more to lose than cyclists.

Tennis, football and motor sports have all been implicated in OP but no investigation has been opened by the Spanish governing bodies of these sports or by their judiciary.

Now, some people are going to take offence at the above paragraph claiming that these sports are whiter than white but I make no apology. After all, both Italian and Dutch football have had their doping scandals - why should ANY other country be excluded?

 

[Stani Kléber]

Only those who banked blood with Fuentes are getting the heat.

As I've said in another thread on here, the cyclists who had doping programmes from Fuentes but without blood in the fridge have got away with no bans, just like footballers and athletes. A DNA match ensures a conviction but paperworkmentioning extensive doping programmes (EPO, IGF-1, HGH etc) for Contador, LL Sanchez or Allan Davis is not strong enough evidence for conviction.

The discrimination therefore is not by sport but by doping method.

 

[Dr. Wattini]

It is all bull

As any doping scandal in cycling, this will become another three ring circus. Valverde will appeal whatever decision is made by the CONI. If I was Valverde I would. For the suspension to stand the manner on which the blood was treated, chain of command, etc must be crystal clear. He will have some sort of argument like his twin brother never developed on his mother's uterus, or that his testosterone was high because he drank whiskey the night before.
Cycling is nothing but a three ring circus, a show, where all the riders are just clowns?we are just being entertained?

 

[Mellow Velo]

I see we replied to eachothers thread. That paperwork is doing the rounds.
Worldwide ban should follow, given what has been posted elsewhere....

 

[mr. tibbs]

Makes me sad. I like Valverde a lot, and I've always enjoyed his exciting finishes.

As for the "innocent until..." crowd: we'll have see how this plays out, but I don't think things look good for Valverde. Allegations at this level have a nasty habit of being based on actionable evidence. This isn't just some journalist trying to sell books...

 

[Captain Chaos]

what does Luis Leon Sanchez have to say about all this because if Valverde gets the book thrown at him Luis's stock goes way up!


http://www.chaoscyclingclub.com

 

[TrapperJohn]

If you look at the list of major stars taken down by Puerto, it would appear that stupidity and opportunism are not constrained by borders.

I still find it curious that only cyclists have been pursued and taken down. Cycling either needs to get tougher on doping, or better at covering it up like the other sports.

 

[lsw123071]

Does CONI have jurisdiction?

I prefer that justice be served but does CONI have jurisdiction over a Spanish rider? Maybe a ban from competing in Italian based events such as the Giro or Milan San Remo? I dont think the Spanish have to honor the CONI judgement? At any rate it doesnt look good for Valverde. Too many smoking guns over the last few years. Smart move by CONI to get blood while the tour stopped in Italy.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

I've studied OP probably as much as anyone. This is a big, ugly issue, and the whole OP situation has become a cluttered mess. Follow this link, to a lengthy discussion on the Bicycling Forums where a lot of details were brought up over the case in recent months. Both pertaining to Valverde, his culpability, and fairness and justice in the case and doping infractions in general.

I realize there's a lot to read on that link, but it's very detailed, especially on page 3.

I'll try to post again later here with more info.

 

[Power13]

I prefer that justice be served but does CONI have jurisdiction over a Spanish rider? Maybe a ban from competing in Italian based events such as the Giro or Milan San Remo? I dont think the Spanish have to honor the CONI judgement? At any rate it doesnt look good for Valverde. Too many smoking guns over the last few years. Smart move by CONI to get blood while the tour stopped in Italy.

Correct...they can only stop him from racing in Italy.

 

[Stani Kléber]

Just as the AFLD can only ban Schumacher from racing in Italy. But as a recognised WADA member, if CONI bans Valverde, the UCI is likely to translate this into an international ban.

 

[skidmark]

Not that dopers shouldn't be punished, but holy crap it's almost THREE YEARS later. Since Puerto started, Valverde has placed 2nd and 5th in the Vuelta, 3rd in the Worlds, 2 top tens in TdF, won another Liege and finished high in the other Ardennes, Won the Dauphine, Spanish championships and San Sebastien, among other races. I know this will hurt his career, but what if he had been 32 when Puerto broke? Would they suspend him while retired? (I guess they didn't with Ullrich) It's just so frustrating to have these specters arising again and again, I'd almost rather have it gone and forgotten and have these guys breathe a sigh of relief that they got away with it. Although I'm not rabidly married to the notion of 'justice', I guess, since I'm always cynical that people are getting away with stuff anyway.

 

[elapid]

I think there are so many things wrong with this. Yes, Valverde has done the crime and should do his punishment. But he has also been targeted - what about the other 200 or so cyclists and other athletes that are still competing? Have CONI taken blood samples and matched DNA from Nadal, football players (or are CONI too scared that Real Madrid or another team will sue?), and other cyclists? While what Valverde did is unacceptable, it must be equally unacceptable for him to see the likes of Contador and his other Operation Puerto buddies still riding and facing no future prospect of bans. Operation Puerto should either be fully opened or fully closed, none of this picking of certain athletes one-by-one.

 

[Jarvis]

what does Luis Leon Sanchez have to say about all this because if Valverde gets the book thrown at him Luis's stock goes way up!

Valv goes down. LL will go down shortly after, followed by the team.

Take them all down and abn them for life. I had no sympathy for Ricco, it was so blatant. I had a small amount of sympathy for Kohl, but only because he took the sentence...that was until yesterday. Seeing as he repeatedly lied to get a reduced sentence and for sympathy he deserves a life ban.

Worse still is that I'm starting to feel sorry for the likes of Basso and anyone else who fessed up, because at least they did their time. **** me, all he needed to do was hold his nerve for a couple more months and it would all have blown over. No wonder he could never beat Armstrong, he didn't have the mental strength.

If I'm ever in the position to bet on a game of poker between Basso and Valv then I'm putting all my money on Valv

 

[Stani Kléber]

elapid, from the sounds of the investigation, all the blood stored belongs to cyclists.

As I said on here before, it is not about cyclists getting caught and non-cyclists being left alone, it is those using blood banking that are being caught as the blood can be matched against DNA. This is why Valverde is being caught, the Italians believe there is a DNA match.

Cyclists not using blood doping but linked via paperwork to Fuentes (eg LL Sanchez, Contador, Davis) are not be pursued as there is only paperwork suggesting EPO and steroid abuse. This is probably the same for the footballers and tennis players, if Fuentes is linked to them then it is not for blood doping but EPO, HGH etc. So just as Contador won't be investigated for this, nor will others, whether cyclists or not.

 

[Dr. Wattini]

There probably are many jurisdictional issues that really I have no clue. Can anyone explain clearly the interaction there will be between CONI, WADA, UCI, RFEC in reference to the Valverde deal? I think the Basso?s ?attempted doping? argument could be used.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

I'll try to answer that before covering a few other things.

CONI is the Italian federation, but unlike some other countries, they are part of the government, thus were able to cross the legal T's and dot the legal I's to make sure they had the power to make the DNA tests legally and match them to documents from Operation Puerto legally.

REFC is the Spanish federation, but more of a sporting organization and not as tied to the government the way CONI is. Thus, the OP paperwork which was held up by Judge Serrano in Spain, when Serrano went on vacation and REFC and others sought the paperwork and got it, CONI ran with the paperwork. Make sense?

WADA isn't part of any judicial action here, and merely set-up rules that cycling federations of nearly all countries abide by.

The UCI is the governing body of cycling. In this situation CONI is going to attempt to pressure the UCI to uphold a suspension of Valverde world wide.

I earlier said this gets messy. What I mean by that is that I don't think there is any set rules we're dealing with here. For example, 7 bags of blood were found to belong to Basso. Basso confessed to "attempting to dope" and was given a near 2-year sentence. However, in the smaller "Oil for Drugs" scandal, Danilo Diluca was found to have intended to dope (without ever testing positive for anything) and was given a 3 month suspension in the off season, by the same authority in Italy. Why? Because OP is a bigger scandal? Because there was actual blood bags of Bassos? Well, with Valverde there is only one bag of plasma with his name attached to it. Whether that plasma had any drugs in it, I can't seem to find out.

I would encourage you to read that link I gave to the Bicycling Forumswhich goes into great detail on Operation Puerto and how it pertains to Valverde.

I'll try to post again late tonight, but may end up writing a huge treatise on OP.

 

[Advancedone]

I thought the bag of blood proved by DNA test to be Valverde's also contained EPO.
Good ridance to bad rubbish I say.
I just wish they could bring down all of the riders connected to OP, bags of blood or just doping programs.

 

[ElChingon]

When will the full OP list be disclosed to end this farce or game the different national governments are playing? Yes playing, the list contains approx. 150 "athletes" and yet only cyclist ar being prosecuted.

What will it take to get someone to force Fuentes to spill his guts on all of the entries on the list and end this once and for all? OK, he's a doctor and maybe there's some laws against that, what about the helpers? His sister and the other guy? They have no hypocritical oath, so they can be "questioned".

Come on people lets end this yearly game of releasing the next promising rider before the Tour starts only to sell more newspapers and gain more TV viewers. At the very least to reduce the amount of times ESPN talks about cycling for it to only be a doping story

I really don't care who's on the list, just that it be fully disclosed ASAP and end this game now.

 

[Epicycle]

elapid, from the sounds of the investigation, all the blood stored belongs to cyclists.

As I said on here before, it is not about cyclists getting caught and non-cyclists being left alone, it is those using blood banking that are being caught as the blood can be matched against DNA. This is why Valverde is being caught, the Italians believe there is a DNA match.

Cyclists not using blood doping but linked via paperwork to Fuentes (eg LL Sanchez, Contador, Davis) are not be pursued as there is only paperwork suggesting EPO and steroid abuse. This is probably the same for the footballers and tennis players, if Fuentes is linked to them then it is not for blood doping but EPO, HGH etc. So just as Contador won't be investigated for this, nor will others, whether cyclists or not.

Didn't Fuentes say he only consulted with football teams? Their doctors may have administered the drugs.