Good Night and Good Luck: Valverde Banned in Italy . . . Next the World?

At long last, "Don" Alejandro Valverde has been sanctioned by the Italian authorities, not his own country Spain, for his obvious involvement in the Operacion Puerto debacle on the eve of the 2006 Tour de France. Italian authorities have successfully matched Valverde's 2008 sample to the blood bags confiscated during the Puerto raids, and the CONI has followed through with a two year ban for Valverde in Italy.

While Valverde is still entitled to an appeal to the court of arbitration for sport, it is hoped that not only will the Italian ban be upheld, but also that the UCI will follow suit and extend the ban on a world-wide basis. Besides the blood bags, Valverde was also obviously linked to the Puerto scandal due to the code name he was given in the Puerto doping logs: valve.piti. This code name couldn't have possibly been any other cyclist than Valverde. The letters "valve" do not appear in any other cyclist's name, and Valverde admitted that his dog's name was "Piti." As we all know by now, Ivan Basso was code named "birillo," the name of his dog. Valverde has been fingered by ex-teammates as well. His guilt is evident and obvious.

That Valverde has gotten away with his doings for so long is a travesty, but at least he will still, at long last, be held accountable. And now that he is on the hook to serve a suspension, it will be interesting to see if he can ever again attain the level of success he did over these past two years. Since the time Puerto broke, Valverde has been arguably the best cyclist on the planet, taking wins in several classics and even the Tour de France. But all that will now come to an end, at least for the time being, as the Spaniard tries to clear his name.

Alejandro Valverde is now 29 years old, roughly the same age that Ivan Basso was when he was suspended. While Basso returns to the sport he loves in hopes of regaining his spot among the top of the cycling heap as we speak in the Giro d'Italia, Valverde will experience the desperation that comes with being kicked out due to cheating and dishonesty. When he returns it will be as a tainted ex-champion, and he'll have much work to do if he is to clear his name in the eyes of the cycling public. Luckily he'll still be in his prime when he returns, and will have several years to prove himself worthy as a "clean" participant. Until then though it is good bye and good riddance to a liar and a cheat.