Valverde challenge fails at Swiss hurdle

Spanish cyclist Alejandro Valverde has lost the latest round of his lengthy attempt to overturn Italian anti-doping sanctions against him, according to a ruling published by the Swiss supreme court yesterday.

Valverde had asked the Switzerland Federal Tribunal to overturn a decision by the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport rejecting his appeal against a two-year ban in 2009 from racing on Italian territory, on procedural grounds.

“The current appeal must be rejected,” the ruling said as it dismissed one of Valverde’s major arguments as “unfounded”.

His lawyers had notably challenged the impartiality of one of the arbitrators and their access to some of the evidence from the Spanish “Operation Puerto” doping investigation.

Valverde, winner of the 2009 Tour of Spain and one of the most feared racers in hilly one-day classics, had been banned from racing in Italy since May 2009.