text: Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (born 25 April 1980) is a Spanish road racing cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam . Valverde's biggest wins have been the Vuelta a España in 2009, Critérium du Dauphiné in 2008 and 2009, Tour of the Basque Country in 2017, Volta a Catalunya in 2009, 2017 and 2018, Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2006, 2008, 2015 and 2017, La Flèche Wallonne in 2006, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, the Clásica de San Sebastián in 2008 and 2014, the 2006 and 2008 UCI ProTours, the 2014 and 2015 UCI World Tours, and the road race in the 2018 World Championships.
  
  Overall, Valverde has 131 professional wins. Prior to his Worlds win, he already held the record for most medals won at World Championships – he twice collected the silver medal in the World Championships, in 2003 and 2005, as well as the bronze four times in 2006, 2012, 2013 and 2014. As of 2021, Valverde has entered thirty grand tours, finished twenty-five of them and placed in the Top 10 of a grand tour on twenty occasions. He also shares the record for most wins in the Points Competition in Vuelta history with Sean Kelly and Laurent Jalabert.
  
  Valverde is rare in combining different specialties in road bicycle racing, being a strong climbing specialist, sprinter and a good time-trialist. The online database Cycling Ranking ranks him as the 4th most successful cyclist of all time.
  
  Biography 
  Born in Las Lumbreras, Murcia, Valverde came from a cycling family, his father Juan was an amateur bicycle racer and bought him a bike when he was six years old. His brother Juan Francisco was also an amateur road racing cyclist. Valverde's first race was in Jumilla, in his region of Murcia, and he finished second. On the following week he won his second race in Yecla. He allegedly took more than fifty consecutive victories between 11 and 13 years old, earning him the nickname El Imbatido (The Unbeaten).
  
  Amateur career 
  Due to his many wins, Valverde was offered to ride for the elite amateur team Banesto based in Navarre, some distance away from his home in Murcia. Perhaps due to the exhaustion from having to travel back and forth every weekend, his performance suffered while with the team.
  
  He moved to the development team of the  professional squad and was coached by Francisco Moya, whom he credited with helping him become a better cyclist. Kelme also promised to allow him to move to the professional squad if he showed good performance. At the end of his first season with the Kelme amateur squad, they offered to move him to the professional squad.
  
  Kelme (2002–2004) 
  Valverde turned professional in 2002 when he signed a contract with the Spanish team , with whom he stayed until the end of the 2004 season. During his time with Kelme he had a breakthrough year in the 2003 Vuelta a España, where he won two stages and finished third in the General classification. That year he also won the Vuelta a Mallorca and a stage in Tour of the Basque Country and other Spanish races like GP Primavera and GP Villafranca de Ordizia. He ended the season with a second place in the 2003 UCI Road World Championships behind Igor Astarloa after winning the sprint ahead of Peter Van Petegem and Paolo Bettini.
  
  In the 2004 season he decided to stay with Kelme despite the team's financial woes and offers from other teams. He went on to win the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, the Vuelta a Murcia, a stage in the Tour of the Basque Country, the Vuelta a Burgos and taking fourth in the Vuelta a España. Although he won a stage in the Vuelta, he was injured in a crash that forced him to downscale his ambitions in the overall classification. He also participated in the Summer Olympics.
  
  Caisse d'Epargne/Movistar (2005–present)
  
  2005 
  
  Valverde joined the UCI ProTeam  in 2005. He won the last stage in Paris–Nice and finished second overall behind Bobby Julich. He also took two stages in the Tour of the Basque Country. In his first ever appearance at the Tour de France, he won the 10th stage of the Tour de France ahead of Lance Armstrong, whom he beat in the sprint into Courchevel at the end of a mountain stage in the Alps. After Stage 12, he was in 5th place on GC, 3 minutes and 16 seconds behind Armstrong. He was also leading in the young rider classification (white jersey), with a 3-minute and 9 second lead on Armstrong's teammate Yaroslav Popovych. However, Valverde was forced to withdraw from the Tour during the 13th stage because of a knee injury. Valverde recovered barely in time for the UCI Road World Championships in Madrid, Spain. The injury of Óscar Freire, who was the Spanish team captain, forced him to become the team leader, despite having had only one day of competition before the Worlds. Amazingly, he was able to be competitive and finished second to winner Tom Boonen.
  
  2006 
  
  In 2006, Valverde won a stage in the Tour of the Basque Country, finishing 2nd overall and capturing the points competition. He then completed a prestigious double in the Spring classics, winning La Flèche Wallonne and taking victory four days later at Liège–Bastogne–Liège. Valverde subsequently won a stage in the Tour de Romandie finishing 3rd overall. Valverde planned to challenge at the 2006 Tour de France, and stated that he hoped to win in the future. He went to the Pinarello bicycle factory in Treviso, Italy, to optimize his time-trialing performance. In fact he started among the favourites for the Tour after the withdrawal of Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso due to a doping investigation. However, on the third stage of the race, Valverde crashed, and had to abandon the Tour with a fractured right collarbone. His ambition to win a Grand Tour shifted to the Vuelta a España, later that year.
  
  Valverde entered the Vuelta a España as the top favorite. Since he did not ride a full Tour de France he was in better condition than some of the other candidates for the victory: defending champion Denis Menchov and Carlos Sastre both ended in the top 10 of the Tour de France and were expected to be somewhat fatigued. Valverde won the 7th stage and dominated mountain stages, earning him the gold leader jersey after stage 9. Valverde lost the jersey however due to the aggressive climbing and attacking of Alexander Vinokourov. In the last time trial, Valverde again lost time on Vinokourov and had to settle for the 2nd place in the overall standings, his second podium finish in a Grand Tour. Following his impressive performance in the Vuelta, Valverde won yet another major title, winning the UCI ProTour with several major races still left on the calendar as his point lead had reached unassailable levels. At the UCI Road World Championships, Valverde was considered one of the favorites for the title. Although he did not win, he was able to finish 3rd and claim a bronze medal.
  
  2007 
  He started 2007 by winning the overall classification at Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana and Vuelta a Murcia. In stage 4 of the Vuelta a Murcia, Valverde accomplished his first win in an individual time trial. He also finished third in the Critérium International and fifth in the Tour of the Basque Country. In the Ardennes classics he took second place in both La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège, unable to repeat the double victory of 2006 season. In the Tour de France, Valverde was seen as one of the favorites for the yellow jersey until he had a disastrous individual time trial that diminished his chances of fighting for the overall classification. He subsequently finished sixth overall, eleven minutes behind, and thus finished his first Tour de France after being unable to complete the race in 2005 and 2006. He decided not to race the Vuelta a España in order to prepare for the UCI Road World Championships.
  
  On 29 August 2007, the UCI announced that they prevented Valverde from riding the World Championships in Stuttgart because of his possible implication in the Operación Puerto doping case to safeguard the atmosphere and reputation of the World Championships. The UCI also called upon the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) to open disciplinary proceedings against the rider, but RFEC refused to comply with the UCI's request, saying there was no new evidence against him. RFEC also included Valverde in its squad for the World Championships, where he ended up 2nd. The matter was taken to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which authorised Valverde to participate in the World Championships.
  
  2008 
  
  In 2008, Valverde showed strong form in the spring. After winning the Vuelta a Murcia, Valverde was focused on training. He announced his readiness with a podium finish in the Klasika Primavera and a triumph at the Paris–Camembert. These successes foreshadowed excellent results in the Ardennes classics: a podium at the Amstel Gold Race and victory in Liège–Bastogne–Liège. Valverde also won the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré and the Spanish National Road Race Championships in June. On 5 July, Valverde won the first stage of the Tour de France. His form faltered in the Pyrenees, and after being dropped on the Col du Tourmalet, eventually losing 5' 52" to stage winner Leonardo Piepoli, scrapping hopes of a podium finish. He performed better in the Alps and claimed a top ten finish. On Alpe d'Huez it appeared that he was working alongside  to try to eliminate Cadel Evans.
  
  He followed the Tour with a strong victory in the Clásica de San Sebastián, leading out the sprint and holding off Alexandr Kolobnev and Davide Rebellin. Later, at the Vuelta a España, he started strong, winning the second stage and wearing the general classification leader's jersey on the third one. He was among the leaders in the first week. However, he lost around two minutes on a very wet stage to Saunces and any chance of a podium finish. However, he ended up in fourth position overall at the end with some strong performances including an impressive ride up the Angliru, where he was only bettered by Alberto Contador and then a good performance in the mountain time-trial. Before the participation at the UCI Road World Championships at Varese, he was mathematically proclaimed the UCI ProTour winner, being his second win in the four editions of the competition.
  
  2009 
  
  Valverde started 2009 in good form by taking the points and mountains classifications in the Vuelta a Castilla y León while finishing 9th overall with two stage victories. He could not repeat his successes of the last few years in the spring classics with his best result being a 7th at La Flèche Wallonne. He won the Klasika Primavera and the Volta a Catalunya to put those disappointments behind him. With the threat of not racing the Tour de France hanging over his head he entered the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré hoping to prove his worth. He performed consistently throughout the two early time-trials to stay in touch with the leaders before finishing second on Mont Ventoux to take the lead in the overall classification. Though Cadel Evans repeatedly attacked him in the final days he stayed on his wheel, with the help of compatriot Alberto Contador, to take the yellow jersey. On the back of these successes he appealed his ban by the Italian authorities with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in the hope of racing the tour.
  
  On 20 September 2009, Valverde clinched the overall victory in the Vuelta a España. Despite having no stage victories, Valverde's consistency in the mountains allowed him to keep his race all the way to end that he captured on stage 9.
  
  2010 
  All his 2010 results were annulled because of the suspension.
  
  2012 
  
  Valverde made his return to the peloton during the Tour Down Under, the first race of the UCI World Tour season. He won the race's fifth stage – the queen stage of the event – by out-sprinting 's Simon Gerrans in a two-man sprint in Willunga, and finished second overall. He earned his first overall victory since his return, by winning February's Vuelta a Andalucía, as well as achieving a stage victory during the race. Valverde also finished third in Paris–Nice, and by winning stage 3 showed good form for the upcoming Tour de France. In the Tour de France he sat casually in the peloton until initiating a breakaway in stage 17, which he held onto after breaking away from the other 16 riders in the breakaway.  almost chased him down, ending only 19 seconds adrift; it was Valverde's fourth Tour de France stage victory.
  
  Valverde entered the Vuelta a España as a lieutenant to the defending champion Juan José Cobo in the . However, Valverde would soon become the leader when it became apparent that Cobo was not in top form. His  started off with a victory in the first stage, a team time trial. Valverde would take the lead of the general, points and combination classifications after winning Stage 3, in which he chased down repeated attacks from Alberto Contador and outsprinted Joaquim Rodríguez at the finishing line. He would subsequently lose the lead to Rodríguez, but won the eighth stage atop the Collada de la Gallina in Andorra. Contador broke away from the small lead group and looked like he was heading for the win, but Rodríguez and Valverde passed him with less than  to go, with Valverde taking the win. Valverde ultimately finished the Vuelta in second position overall after being a constant threat for the leader, which was Rodríguez until stage 17 where Contador soloed to victory and grabbed the lead, which he would not relinquish. Valverde won both the points and combination classification jerseys on the final day from Rodríguez as a result of a sixth-place finish on the last stage in Madrid.
  
  Valverde had to settle for a bronze medal in the World Championships in Valkenburg, as he was unable to reach Philippe Gilbert who attacked on the final climb of the Cauberg. He was the first of a group of 27 riders who had a five seconds deficit on the Belgian when crossing the line. He was supposed to participate in the Giro di Lombardia, but announced on the morning of the race that he was suffering from influenza and was putting an end to his 2012 season.
  
  2013 
  
  As in 2012, Valverde won the overall classification of the Vuelta a Andalucía in 2013, where he also won the points classification in the race. Valverde continued showing some good form after finishing with podium places in the Vuelta a Murcia, the Amstel Gold Race and in Liège–Bastogne–Liège. After having a decent spring campaign, Valverde aimed for a podium finish in the Tour de France. Valverde started the Tour in good form after finishing third in Ax3 Domaines behind Chris Froome and Richie Porte. However the next day, Porte lost over 15 minutes which moved Valverde into second overall right before the tour left the Pyrenees. On Stage 13, Valverde lost almost 10 minutes after getting a flat tyre. Despite a very hard pursuit, the high crosswinds and the pace of the peloton prevented him and his teammates from catching back. They ended up with the second group at the finish causing him to slip out of the top ten. Despite losing his second position, Valverde managed to do well in the Alps which moved him back into the top ten of the overall standings, finishing 8th overall.
  
  At the Vuelta a España, after stage 10, Valverde sat fourth overall a minute behind race leader Chris Horner. However, on stage 11, he moved back up into 3rd after finishing 8th in the time trial. On stage 14, on a rainy descent, Valverde was dropped by the G.C. contenders entering the final climb a minute back. He managed to limit his losses on the final climb staying within a minute of his rivals, though losing close to a minute on Nibali, Horner, and Joaquim Rodríguez. On stage 16, he managed to cut back a handful of seconds on Nibali and Horner. He entered the penultimate stage 20 a minute behind the race leader. He came third of the stage which finished atop the steep Alto de l'Angliru, securing a podium finish in the general classification, one minute and 36 seconds behind race winner Horner. At the World Championships, he took the third place, but was criticized for failing to cover the late attack of Portuguese Rui Costa. Costa eventually reached and out sprinted Rodríguez, Valverde's Spanish teammate.
  
  2014 
  
  In the Tour de France, Valverde ended in fourth place in the general classification. On 2 August 2014 Valverde won the Clásica de San Sebastián for the second time in his career. He won the first uphill finish of the Vuelta a España by powering away from the leaders after leading the group for most of the final climb. He finished the Spanish Grand Tour on the third step of the podium behind Chris Froome and the overall winner Alberto Contador. After the Vuelta, it was announced that Valverde had signed a three-year contract with his , meaning that he would ride for them until at least 2017. At the World Road Race Championships in Ponferrada, Valverde stood on the third step on the podium for the third year in a row. He came in second at the Giro di Lombardia, passing Contador for first place in the UCI World Tour rankings.
  
  2015 
  
  Valverde grabbed three stage victories in the Volta a Catalunya. On stage 2, he got the better of a bunch sprint and helped score a 1–2 for the  with his teammate José Joaquín Rojas. On stage 5, he launched a late attack as he was part of a small group containing all the leaders coming into Valls and won solo. On the last stage, he won the sprint of a group of about 40 riders and with the bonus seconds, snatched the second place of the overall classification from Domenico Pozzovivo. At the Amstel Gold Race he came in second, being bested in a small group sprint by Michał Kwiatkowski. The following Wednesday, Valverde equalled the record number of victories on La Flèche Wallonne with 3, distancing Julian Alaphilippe and Michael Albasini in the final meters of the Mur de Huy.
  
  He went one better the following Sunday, winning the sprint of a small group of riders to impose himself on Liège–Bastogne–Liège. It was the third time in his career Valverde had won La Doyenne. It was also the second time that he had won Liège–Bastogne–Liège and La Flèche Wallonne in the same year, becoming only the second rider to have achieved this double twice, after Ferdinand Kübler. In June, he won the Spanish National Road Race Championships. At the Tour de France, Valverde finished on the podium in 3rd place, his first podium finish at the Tour; achieving a lifelong dream of a top 3 finish. With that finish he had one career goal left, a World Championship victory.
  
  2016 
  Valverde's main goals for the 2016 season were the Ardennes classics, the Giro d'Italia and the Road Race at the Olympic Games in Rio. He started his season by taking the overall at the Vuelta a Andalucía in February. He out-powered the rest of the contenders, including Tejay van Garderen and Rafał Majka, on the climb up to the finish on the final stage. Valverde changed his initial plan of riding the Tour of Flanders and went to Tenerife to prepare for the Giro. He returned to competition by winning two stages and the overall at the Vuelta a Castilla y León which he chose to race instead of the Amstel Gold Race, a race still lacking from his palmáres. The following Wednesday he took his third consecutive La Flèche Wallonne victory and became the most prolific winner of the "smaller" Ardennes Classic with his fourth win. He showed his climbing prowess by controlling up until the last  when he accelerated away from his rivals to take the victory. The Sunday following, he went out to repeat his Ardennes double from 2015 by securing another Liège–Bastogne–Liège win but he fell short and only managed to finish 16th.
  
  Valverde was named in the start list for the Giro d'Italia, his first participation in the Italian race. Valverde rode a consistent race but struggled in the high mountains especially on the queen stage in the Dolomites where he lost more than three minutes. He fought back the very next day with a third place in the mountain time trial and managed to win his first Giro d'Italia stage the day after the rest day in Andalo, his 14th stage win over the three Grand Tours. He secured his spot on the podium by outclimbing Steven Kruijswijk on the very last mountain stage and finished third overall, becoming only the 16th cyclist to finish on the podium in each of the three Grand Tours.
  
  Later that year, Valverde finished sixth in the Tour de France, earning his ninth consecutive top 10 finish in his last nine grand tour starts. A week later he was third at the 2016 Clásica de San Sebastián. At the Vuelta a España he finished 12th in the general classification and third in the points classification. Upon completing the Vuelta he became just the 33rd rider in cycling history to complete all three grand tours in the same season. Valverde finished fourth in the World Tour season standings.
  
  2017 
  In February 2017 Valverde took his first win of the season at the Vuelta a Murcia, a race that he had previously won four times. He followed this up with a win in the Vuelta a Andalucía for the fifth time in six years, defeating runner-up Alberto Contador by a single second and winning stage one in the process. The overall win was the 100th victory in Valverde's career. After not starting Paris–Nice due to illness, Valverde went on to dominate the Volta a Catalunya by winning stages three, five, and seven and beating runner-up Contador by over a minute. This was done in spite of him and his team being given a one-minute penalty for "pushes" in the opening team time trial. At the Tour of the Basque Country, Valverde won stage five and went into the final day's individual time trial as the race leader, albeit on the same time as 's Rigoberto Urán and Michael Woods, 's Romain Bardet, and ' Louis Meintjes, along with having just a three-second advantage over Contador. In the time trial, Valverde finished second on the day to Primož Roglič of  by just nine seconds, and he beat Contador by fourteen seconds, extending his overall lead, and giving Valverde his third stage race victory of the season.
  
  He punctuated his dominance in La Flèche Wallonne by winning the race for the fourth consecutive year and the fifth time overall. A few days later in Liège–Bastogne–Liège, Valverde fended off a late attack from Dan Martin and managed to outsprint him at the line and take his fourth win in the event. After taking time off from racing to train at a 25-day altitude camp at Sierra Nevada, Valverde raced in the Critérium du Dauphiné, where in the stage four time trial he clocked the third best time, losing out only to world time trial champion Tony Martin () and 's Richie Porte by twelve and twenty-four seconds respectively. He managed to put time into the rest of his general classification rivals, including Contador, Bardet, and most notably, defending champion Chris Froome (). Over the subsequent mountain stages, Valverde was consistently aggressive, however it failed to pay off and by the end of the Dauphiné he was 4 minutes 8 seconds down on 's Jakob Fuglsang, in ninth place overall. Going into the Tour de France, Valverde stated that he would work for his teammate Nairo Quintana, however he was still considered an outside bet for the final podium by many pundits. On the opening individual time trial stage, Valverde crashed on a tight corner and was forced to abandon the Tour immediately; his first Grand Tour withdrawal since 2006. He suffered a fractured kneecap, ruling him out for several months. Ultimately, Valverde opted to end his 2017 season because of his knee injury with the hope of making his comeback at the start of the 2018 season.
  
  2018 
  
  Valverde returned to racing at the Challenge Mallorca in late January 2018. At the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, he took his first victory after his comeback, winning stage two and taking the overall lead in the process. The following weekend, he finished second to compatriot Luis León Sánchez in the Vuelta a Murcia. Later in February, Valverde claimed overall victory at the Abu Dhabi Tour, winning the stage to Jebel Hafeet. Valverde finished 17 seconds clear of Dutch rider Wilco Kelderman from .
  
  In March, Valverde rode the Strade Bianche classic, held partially on gravel roads in torrential rain. He finished fourth, 1 minute and 25 seconds behind winner Tiesj Benoot of . Later that month, Valverde won the Volta a Catalunya for the third time in his career. Valverde won the second and fourth stages during the race, taking the race lead – and the mountains jersey as well – for good after his second stage victory. He finished 29 seconds clear of his nearest rival, teammate Nairo Quintana, after Quintana's Colombian compatriot Egan Bernal () crashed out of the race on the final day. His next race, the cobbled classic Dwars door Vlaanderen, resulted in an 11th place showing after being in the mix for the victory until the successful breakaway of eventual winner Yves Lampaert in the closing kilometers. After taking victory in the GP Miguel Induráin followed by a second place in the Klasika Primavera, he began his Ardennes campaign with 5th place at the Amstel Gold Race. On the following Wednesday he was beaten by Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe at La Flèche Wallonne, a race he had won the four previous years. Furthermore, he was unable to win Liège–Bastogne–Liège and finished 13th making it the first time since 2013 that he did not win an Ardennes Classic race.
  
  After a lengthy break he won the Route d'Occitanie stage race in June where he prepared for the Tour de France. He made several long attacks in service of his teammates Quintana and Mikel Landa but all the three  leaders failed to threaten the podium. Valverde returned for the Vuelta a España where was supposed to work for Quintana. He won stage 2 in an uphill sprint and stage 8 in a reduced bunch sprint, beating then World Champion Peter Sagan in the latter. He maintained a high position in the general classification until the last weekend and still had a chance of overall victory. He struggled in the last two stages in Andorra and only managed to finish 5th, but won the points classification for a record-equalling fourth time.
  
  Valverde won the gold medal at the UCI Road World Championships in Innsbruck, in his twelfth participation. He triumphed in a small group sprint at the finish line ahead of Romain Bardet, Michael Woods and Tom Dumoulin, becoming the second oldest Road World Champion in history after Joop Zoetemelk. An emotional Valverde called this his biggest ever victory and one he has chased for 15 years.
  
  2019 
  Valverde took his first major result of 2019 when he finished second overall to Ion Izagirre in the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. He then finished second again, this time to Luis León Sánchez, at the Vuelta a Murcia. At the 2019 UAE Tour, Valverde took his first victory as World Champion by winning the sprint at the summit finish of stage 3. He would go on to finish the race in second place overall.
  
  During the spring classics, Valverde rode the Tour of Flanders, his first participation in the monument. He finished the race in eighth place. Valverde endured a difficult end to his spring campaign. At the Flèche Wallonne, he swallowed a bee during the race and eventually finished 11th. A crash in the leadup to Liège–Bastogne–Liège resulted in a bone edema. Valverde started the race, not knowing of the severity of his injury, and then abandoned during the event, the first time he had not finished. After recovering from his injuries, he returned to racing at the Route d'Occitanie, which he won. On 30 June, he won the Spanish National Road Race Championships for the third time in his career. At the Tour de France, he finished ninth overall.
  
  At the Vuelta a España, Valverde took victory at stage 7 of the race, a summit finish at Mas de la Costa. He would eventually finish the Vuelta in second place overall, 2:16 minutes behind Primož Roglič. At the World Championship road race in Yorkshire, run in very rainy conditions, Valverde abandoned his title defence with about  to go. Towards the end of the season, he finished second to Bauke Mollema at Il Lombardia.
  
  2021 
  Valverde competed in the 2021 Tour de France, finishing twenty-fourth. His best result was a second place on stage 15 (Céret-Andorra la Vella).
  He also participated in the Men's individual road race in the 2020 Summer Olympics, his 5th participation in Olympic Games.
  
  Doping 
  Alejandro Valverde has been linked by documentary and DNA evidence to the Operación Puerto, a blood-doping affair which erupted in May 2006 against doctor Eufemiano Fuentes and a number of accomplices. It uncovered doping products, bags of blood and human plasma, and code names that appeared to link top athletes, including up to 60 cyclists, to a highly organized system of doping, which relied heavily on blood transfusions.
  
  Valverde was not initially linked in the investigation, but documents from Madrid's Court 31 linked Valverde to a single bag of human plasma of the 211 total bags of blood and plasma seized in the investigation. The bag of human plasma was labelled with the codes Valv, Piti and 18. In 2007 Valverde was banned by the International Cycling Union (UCI) from competing in the UCI Road World Championships in Stuttgart but Valverde was cleared by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to compete at the championships. Dick Pound, World Anti-Doping Agency president, said the CAS decision did not mean that Valverde was no longer a suspect.
  
  In early 2009 the Italian National Olympic Committee matched DNA samples taken from Valverde during a rest day in Italy of the 2008 Tour de France to plasma seized in the Operación Puerto investigation. At a February 2009 appearance in front of the Olympic Committee, Valverde maintained his innocence and questioned the Italians' jurisdiction over this case. In May 2009, the Italian Olympic Committee suspended him from competition in Italy for 2 years, effectively barring him from the 2009 Tour de France, which detoured briefly onto Italian soil. Valverde filed an unsuccessful appeal against the Italian ban with the Court of Arbitration for Sport; in a second hearing on 18–21 March 2010, the UCI and WADA contested the Spanish Cycling Federation's decision not to open a case against Valverde.
  
  Finally, on 31 May 2010 it was announced the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the appeals from WADA and the UCI and Valverde was banned for two years, starting 1 January 2010, but rejected the request that any results obtained by the athlete prior to the beginning of the suspension be annulled. After serving the two-year suspension Alejandro Valverde returned to competition in 2012 riding for the .
  
  After a lengthy court battle, he was suspended for two years as part of the Operación Puerto blood doping investigation, but he returned to competition in 2012 upon completion of the ban. All his results from 2010 were stripped, including the overall win in the 2010 Tour de Romandie, and he did not compete in 2011.
  
  Career achievements
  
  Awards 
   Vélo d'Or: 2018
  
  Notes
  
  References
  
  External links 
  
  Caisse d'Epargne's Official Website profile 
  
  Alejandro Valverde at Cycling Ranking
  
  1980 births
  Cyclists at the 2004 Summer Olympics
  Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics
  Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Olympics
  Cyclists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
  Cyclists at the 2020 Summer Olympics
  Doping cases in cycling
  Spanish sportspeople in doping cases
  Living people
  Olympic cyclists of Spain
  Spanish male cyclists
  Spanish Tour de France stage winners
  Spanish Vuelta a España stage winners
  People from Huerta de Murcia
  Vuelta a España winners
  2014 Vuelta a España stage winners
  Cyclists from the Region of Murcia
  Spanish Giro d'Italia stage winners
  UCI Road World Champions (elite men)
  Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Spain
  Mediterranean Games medalists in cycling
  Competitors at the 2001 Mediterranean Games
  UCI ProTour winners
  UCI World Tour winners
sentences: Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (born 25 April 1980) is a Spanish road racing cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam . Valverde's biggest wins have been the Vuelta a España in 2009, Critérium du Dauphiné in 2008 and 2009, Tour of the Basque Country in 2017, Volta a Catalunya in 2009, 2017 and 2018, Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2006, 2008, 2015 and 2017, La Flèche Wallonne in 2006, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, the Clásica de San Sebastián in 2008 and 2014, the 2006 and 2008 UCI ProTours, the 2014 and 2015 UCI World Tours, and the road race in the 2018 World Championships. Overall, Valverde has 131 professional wins. Prior to his Worlds win, he already held the record for most medals won at World Championships – he twice collected the silver medal in the World Championships, in 2003 and 2005, as well as the bronze four times in 2006, 2012, 2013 and 2014. As of 2021, Valverde has entered thirty grand tours, finished twenty-five of them and placed in the Top 10 of a grand tour on twenty occasions. He also shares the record for most wins in the Points Competition in Vuelta history with Sean Kelly and Laurent Jalabert. Valverde is rare in combining different specialties in road bicycle racing, being a strong climbing specialist, sprinter and a good time-trialist. The online database Cycling Ranking ranks him as the 4th most successful cyclist of all time. Biography 
  Born in Las Lumbreras, Murcia, Valverde came from a cycling family, his father Juan was an amateur bicycle racer and bought him a bike when he was six years old. His brother Juan Francisco was also an amateur road racing cyclist. Valverde's first race was in Jumilla, in his region of Murcia, and he finished second. On the following week he won his second race in Yecla. He allegedly took more than fifty consecutive victories between 11 and 13 years old, earning him the nickname El Imbatido (The Unbeaten). Amateur career 
  Due to his many wins, Valverde was offered to ride for the elite amateur team Banesto based in Navarre, some distance away from his home in Murcia. Perhaps due to the exhaustion from having to travel back and forth every weekend, his performance suffered while with the team. He moved to the development team of the  professional squad and was coached by Francisco Moya, whom he credited with helping him become a better cyclist. Kelme also promised to allow him to move to the professional squad if he showed good performance. At the end of his first season with the Kelme amateur squad, they offered to move him to the professional squad. Kelme (2002–2004) 
  Valverde turned professional in 2002 when he signed a contract with the Spanish team , with whom he stayed until the end of the 2004 season. During his time with Kelme he had a breakthrough year in the 2003 Vuelta a España, where he won two stages and finished third in the General classification. That year he also won the Vuelta a Mallorca and a stage in Tour of the Basque Country and other Spanish races like GP Primavera and GP Villafranca de Ordizia. He ended the season with a second place in the 2003 UCI Road World Championships behind Igor Astarloa after winning the sprint ahead of Peter Van Petegem and Paolo Bettini. In the 2004 season he decided to stay with Kelme despite the team's financial woes and offers from other teams. He went on to win the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, the Vuelta a Murcia, a stage in the Tour of the Basque Country, the Vuelta a Burgos and taking fourth in the Vuelta a España. Although he won a stage in the Vuelta, he was injured in a crash that forced him to downscale his ambitions in the overall classification. He also participated in the Summer Olympics. Caisse d'Epargne/Movistar (2005–present)
  
  2005 
  
  Valverde joined the UCI ProTeam  in 2005. He won the last stage in Paris–Nice and finished second overall behind Bobby Julich. He also took two stages in the Tour of the Basque Country. In his first ever appearance at the Tour de France, he won the 10th stage of the Tour de France ahead of Lance Armstrong, whom he beat in the sprint into Courchevel at the end of a mountain stage in the Alps. After Stage 12, he was in 5th place on GC, 3 minutes and 16 seconds behind Armstrong. He was also leading in the young rider classification (white jersey), with a 3-minute and 9 second lead on Armstrong's teammate Yaroslav Popovych. However, Valverde was forced to withdraw from the Tour during the 13th stage because of a knee injury. Valverde recovered barely in time for the UCI Road World Championships in Madrid, Spain. The injury of Óscar Freire, who was the Spanish team captain, forced him to become the team leader, despite having had only one day of competition before the Worlds. Amazingly, he was able to be competitive and finished second to winner Tom Boonen. 2006 
  
  In 2006, Valverde won a stage in the Tour of the Basque Country, finishing 2nd overall and capturing the points competition. He then completed a prestigious double in the Spring classics, winning La Flèche Wallonne and taking victory four days later at Liège–Bastogne–Liège. Valverde subsequently won a stage in the Tour de Romandie finishing 3rd overall. Valverde planned to challenge at the 2006 Tour de France, and stated that he hoped to win in the future. He went to the Pinarello bicycle factory in Treviso, Italy, to optimize his time-trialing performance. In fact he started among the favourites for the Tour after the withdrawal of Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso due to a doping investigation. However, on the third stage of the race, Valverde crashed, and had to abandon the Tour with a fractured right collarbone. His ambition to win a Grand Tour shifted to the Vuelta a España, later that year. Valverde entered the Vuelta a España as the top favorite. Since he did not ride a full Tour de France he was in better condition than some of the other candidates for the victory: defending champion Denis Menchov and Carlos Sastre both ended in the top 10 of the Tour de France and were expected to be somewhat fatigued. Valverde won the 7th stage and dominated mountain stages, earning him the gold leader jersey after stage 9. Valverde lost the jersey however due to the aggressive climbing and attacking of Alexander Vinokourov. In the last time trial, Valverde again lost time on Vinokourov and had to settle for the 2nd place in the overall standings, his second podium finish in a Grand Tour. Following his impressive performance in the Vuelta, Valverde won yet another major title, winning the UCI ProTour with several major races still left on the calendar as his point lead had reached unassailable levels. At the UCI Road World Championships, Valverde was considered one of the favorites for the title. Although he did not win, he was able to finish 3rd and claim a bronze medal. 2007 
  He started 2007 by winning the overall classification at Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana and Vuelta a Murcia. In stage 4 of the Vuelta a Murcia, Valverde accomplished his first win in an individual time trial. He also finished third in the Critérium International and fifth in the Tour of the Basque Country. In the Ardennes classics he took second place in both La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège, unable to repeat the double victory of 2006 season. In the Tour de France, Valverde was seen as one of the favorites for the yellow jersey until he had a disastrous individual time trial that diminished his chances of fighting for the overall classification. He subsequently finished sixth overall, eleven minutes behind, and thus finished his first Tour de France after being unable to complete the race in 2005 and 2006. He decided not to race the Vuelta a España in order to prepare for the UCI Road World Championships. On 29 August 2007, the UCI announced that they prevented Valverde from riding the World Championships in Stuttgart because of his possible implication in the Operación Puerto doping case to safeguard the atmosphere and reputation of the World Championships. The UCI also called upon the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) to open disciplinary proceedings against the rider, but RFEC refused to comply with the UCI's request, saying there was no new evidence against him. RFEC also included Valverde in its squad for the World Championships, where he ended up 2nd. The matter was taken to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which authorised Valverde to participate in the World Championships. 2008 
  
  In 2008, Valverde showed strong form in the spring. After winning the Vuelta a Murcia, Valverde was focused on training. He announced his readiness with a podium finish in the Klasika Primavera and a triumph at the Paris–Camembert. These successes foreshadowed excellent results in the Ardennes classics: a podium at the Amstel Gold Race and victory in Liège–Bastogne–Liège. Valverde also won the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré and the Spanish National Road Race Championships in June. On 5 July, Valverde won the first stage of the Tour de France. His form faltered in the Pyrenees, and after being dropped on the Col du Tourmalet, eventually losing 5' 52" to stage winner Leonardo Piepoli, scrapping hopes of a podium finish. He performed better in the Alps and claimed a top ten finish. On Alpe d'Huez it appeared that he was working alongside  to try to eliminate Cadel Evans. He followed the Tour with a strong victory in the Clásica de San Sebastián, leading out the sprint and holding off Alexandr Kolobnev and Davide Rebellin. Later, at the Vuelta a España, he started strong, winning the second stage and wearing the general classification leader's jersey on the third one. He was among the leaders in the first week. However, he lost around two minutes on a very wet stage to Saunces and any chance of a podium finish. However, he ended up in fourth position overall at the end with some strong performances including an impressive ride up the Angliru, where he was only bettered by Alberto Contador and then a good performance in the mountain time-trial. Before the participation at the UCI Road World Championships at Varese, he was mathematically proclaimed the UCI ProTour winner, being his second win in the four editions of the competition. 2009 
  
  Valverde started 2009 in good form by taking the points and mountains classifications in the Vuelta a Castilla y León while finishing 9th overall with two stage victories. He could not repeat his successes of the last few years in the spring classics with his best result being a 7th at La Flèche Wallonne. He won the Klasika Primavera and the Volta a Catalunya to put those disappointments behind him. With the threat of not racing the Tour de France hanging over his head he entered the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré hoping to prove his worth. He performed consistently throughout the two early time-trials to stay in touch with the leaders before finishing second on Mont Ventoux to take the lead in the overall classification. Though Cadel Evans repeatedly attacked him in the final days he stayed on his wheel, with the help of compatriot Alberto Contador, to take the yellow jersey. On the back of these successes he appealed his ban by the Italian authorities with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in the hope of racing the tour. On 20 September 2009, Valverde clinched the overall victory in the Vuelta a España. Despite having no stage victories, Valverde's consistency in the mountains allowed him to keep his race all the way to end that he captured on stage 9. 2010 
  All his 2010 results were annulled because of the suspension. 2012 
  
  Valverde made his return to the peloton during the Tour Down Under, the first race of the UCI World Tour season. He won the race's fifth stage – the queen stage of the event – by out-sprinting 's Simon Gerrans in a two-man sprint in Willunga, and finished second overall. He earned his first overall victory since his return, by winning February's Vuelta a Andalucía, as well as achieving a stage victory during the race. Valverde also finished third in Paris–Nice, and by winning stage 3 showed good form for the upcoming Tour de France. In the Tour de France he sat casually in the peloton until initiating a breakaway in stage 17, which he held onto after breaking away from the other 16 riders in the breakaway. almost chased him down, ending only 19 seconds adrift; it was Valverde's fourth Tour de France stage victory. Valverde entered the Vuelta a España as a lieutenant to the defending champion Juan José Cobo in the . However, Valverde would soon become the leader when it became apparent that Cobo was not in top form. His  started off with a victory in the first stage, a team time trial. Valverde would take the lead of the general, points and combination classifications after winning Stage 3, in which he chased down repeated attacks from Alberto Contador and outsprinted Joaquim Rodríguez at the finishing line. He would subsequently lose the lead to Rodríguez, but won the eighth stage atop the Collada de la Gallina in Andorra. Contador broke away from the small lead group and looked like he was heading for the win, but Rodríguez and Valverde passed him with less than  to go, with Valverde taking the win. Valverde ultimately finished the Vuelta in second position overall after being a constant threat for the leader, which was Rodríguez until stage 17 where Contador soloed to victory and grabbed the lead, which he would not relinquish. Valverde won both the points and combination classification jerseys on the final day from Rodríguez as a result of a sixth-place finish on the last stage in Madrid. Valverde had to settle for a bronze medal in the World Championships in Valkenburg, as he was unable to reach Philippe Gilbert who attacked on the final climb of the Cauberg. He was the first of a group of 27 riders who had a five seconds deficit on the Belgian when crossing the line. He was supposed to participate in the Giro di Lombardia, but announced on the morning of the race that he was suffering from influenza and was putting an end to his 2012 season. 2013 
  
  As in 2012, Valverde won the overall classification of the Vuelta a Andalucía in 2013, where he also won the points classification in the race. Valverde continued showing some good form after finishing with podium places in the Vuelta a Murcia, the Amstel Gold Race and in Liège–Bastogne–Liège. After having a decent spring campaign, Valverde aimed for a podium finish in the Tour de France. Valverde started the Tour in good form after finishing third in Ax3 Domaines behind Chris Froome and Richie Porte. However the next day, Porte lost over 15 minutes which moved Valverde into second overall right before the tour left the Pyrenees. On Stage 13, Valverde lost almost 10 minutes after getting a flat tyre. Despite a very hard pursuit, the high crosswinds and the pace of the peloton prevented him and his teammates from catching back. They ended up with the second group at the finish causing him to slip out of the top ten. Despite losing his second position, Valverde managed to do well in the Alps which moved him back into the top ten of the overall standings, finishing 8th overall. At the Vuelta a España, after stage 10, Valverde sat fourth overall a minute behind race leader Chris Horner. However, on stage 11, he moved back up into 3rd after finishing 8th in the time trial. On stage 14, on a rainy descent, Valverde was dropped by the G.C. contenders entering the final climb a minute back. He managed to limit his losses on the final climb staying within a minute of his rivals, though losing close to a minute on Nibali, Horner, and Joaquim Rodríguez. On stage 16, he managed to cut back a handful of seconds on Nibali and Horner. He entered the penultimate stage 20 a minute behind the race leader. He came third of the stage which finished atop the steep Alto de l'Angliru, securing a podium finish in the general classification, one minute and 36 seconds behind race winner Horner. At the World Championships, he took the third place, but was criticized for failing to cover the late attack of Portuguese Rui Costa. Costa eventually reached and out sprinted Rodríguez, Valverde's Spanish teammate. 2014 
  
  In the Tour de France, Valverde ended in fourth place in the general classification. On 2 August 2014 Valverde won the Clásica de San Sebastián for the second time in his career. He won the first uphill finish of the Vuelta a España by powering away from the leaders after leading the group for most of the final climb. He finished the Spanish Grand Tour on the third step of the podium behind Chris Froome and the overall winner Alberto Contador. After the Vuelta, it was announced that Valverde had signed a three-year contract with his , meaning that he would ride for them until at least 2017. At the World Road Race Championships in Ponferrada, Valverde stood on the third step on the podium for the third year in a row. He came in second at the Giro di Lombardia, passing Contador for first place in the UCI World Tour rankings. 2015 
  
  Valverde grabbed three stage victories in the Volta a Catalunya. On stage 2, he got the better of a bunch sprint and helped score a 1–2 for the  with his teammate José Joaquín Rojas. On stage 5, he launched a late attack as he was part of a small group containing all the leaders coming into Valls and won solo. On the last stage, he won the sprint of a group of about 40 riders and with the bonus seconds, snatched the second place of the overall classification from Domenico Pozzovivo. At the Amstel Gold Race he came in second, being bested in a small group sprint by Michał Kwiatkowski. The following Wednesday, Valverde equalled the record number of victories on La Flèche Wallonne with 3, distancing Julian Alaphilippe and Michael Albasini in the final meters of the Mur de Huy. He went one better the following Sunday, winning the sprint of a small group of riders to impose himself on Liège–Bastogne–Liège. It was the third time in his career Valverde had won La Doyenne. It was also the second time that he had won Liège–Bastogne–Liège and La Flèche Wallonne in the same year, becoming only the second rider to have achieved this double twice, after Ferdinand Kübler. In June, he won the Spanish National Road Race Championships. At the Tour de France, Valverde finished on the podium in 3rd place, his first podium finish at the Tour; achieving a lifelong dream of a top 3 finish. With that finish he had one career goal left, a World Championship victory. 2016 
  Valverde's main goals for the 2016 season were the Ardennes classics, the Giro d'Italia and the Road Race at the Olympic Games in Rio. He started his season by taking the overall at the Vuelta a Andalucía in February. He out-powered the rest of the contenders, including Tejay van Garderen and Rafał Majka, on the climb up to the finish on the final stage. Valverde changed his initial plan of riding the Tour of Flanders and went to Tenerife to prepare for the Giro. He returned to competition by winning two stages and the overall at the Vuelta a Castilla y León which he chose to race instead of the Amstel Gold Race, a race still lacking from his palmáres. The following Wednesday he took his third consecutive La Flèche Wallonne victory and became the most prolific winner of the "smaller" Ardennes Classic with his fourth win. He showed his climbing prowess by controlling up until the last  when he accelerated away from his rivals to take the victory. The Sunday following, he went out to repeat his Ardennes double from 2015 by securing another Liège–Bastogne–Liège win but he fell short and only managed to finish 16th. Valverde was named in the start list for the Giro d'Italia, his first participation in the Italian race. Valverde rode a consistent race but struggled in the high mountains especially on the queen stage in the Dolomites where he lost more than three minutes. He fought back the very next day with a third place in the mountain time trial and managed to win his first Giro d'Italia stage the day after the rest day in Andalo, his 14th stage win over the three Grand Tours. He secured his spot on the podium by outclimbing Steven Kruijswijk on the very last mountain stage and finished third overall, becoming only the 16th cyclist to finish on the podium in each of the three Grand Tours. Later that year, Valverde finished sixth in the Tour de France, earning his ninth consecutive top 10 finish in his last nine grand tour starts. A week later he was third at the 2016 Clásica de San Sebastián. At the Vuelta a España he finished 12th in the general classification and third in the points classification. Upon completing the Vuelta he became just the 33rd rider in cycling history to complete all three grand tours in the same season. Valverde finished fourth in the World Tour season standings. 2017 
  In February 2017 Valverde took his first win of the season at the Vuelta a Murcia, a race that he had previously won four times. He followed this up with a win in the Vuelta a Andalucía for the fifth time in six years, defeating runner-up Alberto Contador by a single second and winning stage one in the process. The overall win was the 100th victory in Valverde's career. After not starting Paris–Nice due to illness, Valverde went on to dominate the Volta a Catalunya by winning stages three, five, and seven and beating runner-up Contador by over a minute. This was done in spite of him and his team being given a one-minute penalty for "pushes" in the opening team time trial. At the Tour of the Basque Country, Valverde won stage five and went into the final day's individual time trial as the race leader, albeit on the same time as 's Rigoberto Urán and Michael Woods, 's Romain Bardet, and ' Louis Meintjes, along with having just a three-second advantage over Contador. In the time trial, Valverde finished second on the day to Primož Roglič of  by just nine seconds, and he beat Contador by fourteen seconds, extending his overall lead, and giving Valverde his third stage race victory of the season. He punctuated his dominance in La Flèche Wallonne by winning the race for the fourth consecutive year and the fifth time overall. A few days later in Liège–Bastogne–Liège, Valverde fended off a late attack from Dan Martin and managed to outsprint him at the line and take his fourth win in the event. After taking time off from racing to train at a 25-day altitude camp at Sierra Nevada, Valverde raced in the Critérium du Dauphiné, where in the stage four time trial he clocked the third best time, losing out only to world time trial champion Tony Martin () and 's Richie Porte by twelve and twenty-four seconds respectively. He managed to put time into the rest of his general classification rivals, including Contador, Bardet, and most notably, defending champion Chris Froome (). Over the subsequent mountain stages, Valverde was consistently aggressive, however it failed to pay off and by the end of the Dauphiné he was 4 minutes 8 seconds down on 's Jakob Fuglsang, in ninth place overall. Going into the Tour de France, Valverde stated that he would work for his teammate Nairo Quintana, however he was still considered an outside bet for the final podium by many pundits. On the opening individual time trial stage, Valverde crashed on a tight corner and was forced to abandon the Tour immediately; his first Grand Tour withdrawal since 2006. He suffered a fractured kneecap, ruling him out for several months. Ultimately, Valverde opted to end his 2017 season because of his knee injury with the hope of making his comeback at the start of the 2018 season. 2018 
  
  Valverde returned to racing at the Challenge Mallorca in late January 2018. At the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, he took his first victory after his comeback, winning stage two and taking the overall lead in the process. The following weekend, he finished second to compatriot Luis León Sánchez in the Vuelta a Murcia. Later in February, Valverde claimed overall victory at the Abu Dhabi Tour, winning the stage to Jebel Hafeet. Valverde finished 17 seconds clear of Dutch rider Wilco Kelderman from . In March, Valverde rode the Strade Bianche classic, held partially on gravel roads in torrential rain. He finished fourth, 1 minute and 25 seconds behind winner Tiesj Benoot of . Later that month, Valverde won the Volta a Catalunya for the third time in his career. Valverde won the second and fourth stages during the race, taking the race lead – and the mountains jersey as well – for good after his second stage victory. He finished 29 seconds clear of his nearest rival, teammate Nairo Quintana, after Quintana's Colombian compatriot Egan Bernal () crashed out of the race on the final day. His next race, the cobbled classic Dwars door Vlaanderen, resulted in an 11th place showing after being in the mix for the victory until the successful breakaway of eventual winner Yves Lampaert in the closing kilometers. After taking victory in the GP Miguel Induráin followed by a second place in the Klasika Primavera, he began his Ardennes campaign with 5th place at the Amstel Gold Race. On the following Wednesday he was beaten by Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe at La Flèche Wallonne, a race he had won the four previous years. Furthermore, he was unable to win Liège–Bastogne–Liège and finished 13th making it the first time since 2013 that he did not win an Ardennes Classic race. After a lengthy break he won the Route d'Occitanie stage race in June where he prepared for the Tour de France. He made several long attacks in service of his teammates Quintana and Mikel Landa but all the three  leaders failed to threaten the podium. Valverde returned for the Vuelta a España where was supposed to work for Quintana. He won stage 2 in an uphill sprint and stage 8 in a reduced bunch sprint, beating then World Champion Peter Sagan in the latter. He maintained a high position in the general classification until the last weekend and still had a chance of overall victory. He struggled in the last two stages in Andorra and only managed to finish 5th, but won the points classification for a record-equalling fourth time. Valverde won the gold medal at the UCI Road World Championships in Innsbruck, in his twelfth participation. He triumphed in a small group sprint at the finish line ahead of Romain Bardet, Michael Woods and Tom Dumoulin, becoming the second oldest Road World Champion in history after Joop Zoetemelk. An emotional Valverde called this his biggest ever victory and one he has chased for 15 years. 2019 
  Valverde took his first major result of 2019 when he finished second overall to Ion Izagirre in the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. He then finished second again, this time to Luis León Sánchez, at the Vuelta a Murcia. At the 2019 UAE Tour, Valverde took his first victory as World Champion by winning the sprint at the summit finish of stage 3. He would go on to finish the race in second place overall. During the spring classics, Valverde rode the Tour of Flanders, his first participation in the monument. He finished the race in eighth place. Valverde endured a difficult end to his spring campaign. At the Flèche Wallonne, he swallowed a bee during the race and eventually finished 11th. A crash in the leadup to Liège–Bastogne–Liège resulted in a bone edema. Valverde started the race, not knowing of the severity of his injury, and then abandoned during the event, the first time he had not finished. After recovering from his injuries, he returned to racing at the Route d'Occitanie, which he won. On 30 June, he won the Spanish National Road Race Championships for the third time in his career. At the Tour de France, he finished ninth overall. At the Vuelta a España, Valverde took victory at stage 7 of the race, a summit finish at Mas de la Costa. He would eventually finish the Vuelta in second place overall, 2:16 minutes behind Primož Roglič. At the World Championship road race in Yorkshire, run in very rainy conditions, Valverde abandoned his title defence with about  to go. Towards the end of the season, he finished second to Bauke Mollema at Il Lombardia. 2021 
  Valverde competed in the 2021 Tour de France, finishing twenty-fourth. His best result was a second place on stage 15 (Céret-Andorra la Vella). He also participated in the Men's individual road race in the 2020 Summer Olympics, his 5th participation in Olympic Games. Doping 
  Alejandro Valverde has been linked by documentary and DNA evidence to the Operación Puerto, a blood-doping affair which erupted in May 2006 against doctor Eufemiano Fuentes and a number of accomplices. It uncovered doping products, bags of blood and human plasma, and code names that appeared to link top athletes, including up to 60 cyclists, to a highly organized system of doping, which relied heavily on blood transfusions. Valverde was not initially linked in the investigation, but documents from Madrid's Court 31 linked Valverde to a single bag of human plasma of the 211 total bags of blood and plasma seized in the investigation. The bag of human plasma was labelled with the codes Valv, Piti and 18. In 2007 Valverde was banned by the International Cycling Union (UCI) from competing in the UCI Road World Championships in Stuttgart but Valverde was cleared by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to compete at the championships. Dick Pound, World Anti-Doping Agency president, said the CAS decision did not mean that Valverde was no longer a suspect. In early 2009 the Italian National Olympic Committee matched DNA samples taken from Valverde during a rest day in Italy of the 2008 Tour de France to plasma seized in the Operación Puerto investigation. At a February 2009 appearance in front of the Olympic Committee, Valverde maintained his innocence and questioned the Italians' jurisdiction over this case. In May 2009, the Italian Olympic Committee suspended him from competition in Italy for 2 years, effectively barring him from the 2009 Tour de France, which detoured briefly onto Italian soil. Valverde filed an unsuccessful appeal against the Italian ban with the Court of Arbitration for Sport; in a second hearing on 18–21 March 2010, the UCI and WADA contested the Spanish Cycling Federation's decision not to open a case against Valverde. Finally, on 31 May 2010 it was announced the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the appeals from WADA and the UCI and Valverde was banned for two years, starting 1 January 2010, but rejected the request that any results obtained by the athlete prior to the beginning of the suspension be annulled. After serving the two-year suspension Alejandro Valverde returned to competition in 2012 riding for the . After a lengthy court battle, he was suspended for two years as part of the Operación Puerto blood doping investigation, but he returned to competition in 2012 upon completion of the ban. All his results from 2010 were stripped, including the overall win in the 2010 Tour de Romandie, and he did not compete in 2011. Career achievements
  
  Awards 
   Vélo d'Or: 2018
  
  Notes
  
  References
  
  External links 
  
  Caisse d'Epargne's Official Website profile 
  
  Alejandro Valverde at Cycling Ranking
  
  1980 births
  Cyclists at the 2004 Summer Olympics
  Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics
  Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Olympics
  Cyclists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
  Cyclists at the 2020 Summer Olympics
  Doping cases in cycling
  Spanish sportspeople in doping cases
  Living people
  Olympic cyclists of Spain
  Spanish male cyclists
  Spanish Tour de France stage winners
  Spanish Vuelta a España stage winners
  People from Huerta de Murcia
  Vuelta a España winners
  2014 Vuelta a España stage winners
  Cyclists from the Region of Murcia
  Spanish Giro d'Italia stage winners
  UCI Road World Champions (elite men)
  Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Spain
  Mediterranean Games medalists in cycling
  Competitors at the 2001 Mediterranean Games
  UCI ProTour winners
  UCI World Tour winners
paraphrased_sentences: Alejandro Valverde is a Spanish road racing cyclist who rides for the UCI World Team. The Vuelta a Espaa, the Tour of the Basque Country, the Lige–Bastogne–Lige, and the Tour of Catalunya have all been won by Valverde. There are 131 professional wins for Valverde. Prior to his Worlds win, he held the record for most medals won at World Championships, with two silver medals and four bronze medals. As of 2021, he has entered thirty grand tours, finished twenty-five of them, and placed in the Top 10 on twenty occasions. He shares the record for most wins in the Points Competition with Sean Kelly and Laurent Jalabert. Being a strong climbing specialist, sprinter and a good time-trialist is rare in road bicycle racing. He is the 4th most successful cyclist of all time. Juan was an amateur bicycle racer and bought his son a bike when he was six years old. Juan Francisco was an amateur cyclist. He finished second in his first race in Jumilla. He won his second race the following week. He was nicknamed El Imbatido (The Unbeaten) because he took more than fifty victories between 11 and 13 years old. Due to his many wins, Valverde was offered to ride for an elite amateur team based in Navarre, some distance away from his home in Murcia. His performance may have suffered due to the exhaustion he had to travel back and forth every weekend. He credited Francisco Moya with helping him become a better cyclist after he moved to the development team of the professional squad. If he showed good performance, Kelme would allow him to move to the professional squad. At the end of his first season with the Kelme amateur squad, they offered to move him to the professional squad. After signing a contract with the Spanish team, Kelme stayed until the end of the 2004 season. He had a breakthrough year in the Vuelta a Espaa in 2003 when he won two stages and finished third in the general classification. He won the Vuelta a Mallorca and a stage in the Tour of the Basque Country that year. He finished second in the 2003 UCI Road World Championships after winning the sprint ahead of Peter Van Petegem and Paolo Bettini. Despite the team's financial troubles, he decided to stay with Kelme. He won the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, the Vuelta a Murcia, the Tour of the Basque Country, the Vuelta a Burgos, and the Vuelta a Espaa. Although he won a stage in the Vuelta, he was injured in a crash that forced him to scale back his ambitions in the overall classification. He was in the Summer Olympics. Caisse d'Epargne/Movistar joined the UCI ProTeam in 2005. He finished second in the overall race after winning the last stage in Paris–Nice. He took two stages in the Tour of the Basque Country. In his first ever appearance at the Tour de France, he won the 10th stage of the Tour de France ahead of Lance Armstrong, who he beat in the sprint into Courchevel at the end of a mountain stage in the Alps. He was in 5th place on the GC after Stage 12. He had a 3-minute and 9 second lead on Yaroslav Popovych in the young rider classification. During the 13th stage, he withdrew from the Tour because of a knee injury. The UCI Road World Championships were held in Madrid, Spain. The injury of scar Freire, who was the Spanish team captain, forced him to become the team leader despite having only one day of competition before the Worlds. He was close to the winner and finished second. In 2006 he won a stage in the Tour of the Basque Country and captured the points competition. He took victory at Lige–Bastogne–Lige four days after winning La Flche Wallonne. The Tour de Romandie was won by Valverde. He wanted to win the Tour de France in the future. He went to the bike factory in Italy to improve his performance. He was one of the favorites for the Tour after the withdrawals of Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso. He had to abandon the Tour with a broken collarbone after crashing on the third stage. He wanted to win a Grand Tour later that year. The Vuelta a Espaa was entered by Valverde as the favorite. Defending champion Denis Menchov and Carlos Sastre both ended in the top 10 of the Tour de France and were expected to be somewhat fatigued, but since he did not ride a full Tour de France he was in better condition than some of the other candidates for the victory. He won the 7th stage and was the leader after stage 9. The jersey was lost due to the aggressive climbing of Alexander Vinokourov. In the last time trial, he lost time on Vinokourov and had to settle for the 2nd place in the overall, his second podium finish in a Grand Tour. His point lead had reached unassailable levels as he won the UCI ProTour with several major races still left on the calendar. One of the favorites for the title was Valverde. He was able to finish 3rd and claim a bronze medal even though he did not win. He won the overall classification at Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana and Vuelta a Murcia in 2007. His first win in an individual time trial was in stage 4 of the Vuelta a Murcia. He finished fifth in the Tour of the Basque Country. He was unable to repeat the double victory of the 2006 season in the Lige–Bastogne–Lige classics. In the Tour de France, Alejandro Valverde was seen as one of the favorites for the yellow jersey until he had a disastrous individual time trial. After being unable to complete the race in 2005 and 2006 he finished his first Tour de France in sixth place. The Vuelta a Espaa was 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 On August 29, 2007, the UCI announced that they prevented Valverde from riding the World Championships because of his possible implication in the Operacin Puerto case to safeguard the atmosphere and reputation of the World Championships. RFEC refused to comply with the UCI's request, saying there was no new evidence against the rider. RFEC included him in its squad for the World Championships, where he finished 2nd. The matter was taken to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which allowed him to participate in the World Championships. In the spring of 2008, Valverde showed his best form. He was focused on training after winning the Vuelta a Murcia. He won the Paris–Camembert and finished on a podium. The Lige–Bastogne–Lige victory foretold excellent results in the classics. In June, he won the Spanish National Road Race Championships. The first stage of the Tour de France was won by Valverde. After being dropped on the Col du Tourmalet, he lost 5' 52" to Leonardo Piepoli, who went on to win the stage. He finished in the top ten in the Alps. It appeared that he was trying to eliminate Cadel Evans. He followed the Tour with a victory in the Clsica de San Sebastin. He wore the general classification leader's jersey on the third stage of the Vuelta a Espaa after winning the second stage. He was a leader in the first week. He lost around two minutes on a very wet stage to Saunces and no chance of a podium finish. He had a good ride up the Angliru and a good performance in the mountain time-trial to finish in fourth position. His second win in the four editions of the competition made him the winner of the UCI ProTour. In the Vuelta a Castilla y Len, he took the points and mountains classifications and finished 9th overall with two stage victories. His best result in the spring classics was a 7th at La Flche Wallonne, but he couldn't repeat his success of the last few years. He won the Volta a Catalunya to put his disappointment behind him. With the threat of not racing the Tour de France hanging over his head, he entered the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré to prove his worth. He was in touch with the leaders throughout the two early time-trials and finished second on Mont Ventoux to take the lead in the overall classification. Cadel Evans attacked him multiple times in the final days, but he stayed on his wheel and took the yellow jersey. He appealed his ban by the Italian authorities in order to race the tour. The Vuelta a Espaa was won by Valverde on 20 September 2009. His consistency in the mountains allowed him to keep his race going even though he had no stage victories. His 2010 results were null and void because of the suspension. The Tour Down Under was the first race of the World Tour season. He beat Simon Gerrans in a two-man sprint to win the queen stage of the race and finish second overall. He won the Vuelta a Andaluca in February and also achieved a stage victory. By winning stage 3 in Paris–Nice, he showed good form for the Tour de France. He broke away from the other 16 riders in the break in the 17th stage of the Tour de France, which he held onto. It was his fourth Tour de France stage victory and he almost chased him down. The Vuelta a Espaa was won by Juan José Cobo. When it became apparent that Cobo was not in top form, Valverde became the leader. He won the first stage, a team time trial. After winning Stage 3, he would take the lead of the general, points and combination classifications and outsprinted Joaquim Rodrguez at the finish line. He was 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 After breaking away from the small lead group, he looked like he was going to win, but Rodrguez and Valverde passed him with less than a kilometer to go. After being a constant threat for the leader, which was Rodrguez until stage 17 where Contador soloed to victory and grabbed the lead, he would not relinquish. A sixth-place finish on the last stage in Madrid gave Alejandro Valverde the points and combination classification jerseys on the final day from Rodrguez. In the World Championships in Valkenburg, he was unable to reach Philippe Gilbert who attacked on the final climb of the Cauberg. A group of 27 riders had a five second deficit on the Belgian when they crossed the line. On the morning of the Giro di Lombardia, he announced that he was putting an end to his 2012 season because he was suffering from the flu. The Vuelta a Andaluca was won by Valverde in both the points classification and the overall classification. In the Vuelta a Murcia, the Amstel Gold Race, and Lige–Bastogne–Lige, Valverde finished with podium places. He wanted a podium finish in the Tour de France. The Tour got off to a good start after the third place finish by Valverde. On the next day, Porte lost over 15 minutes which moved Valverde into second overall. After getting a flat tire, Valverde lost almost 10 minutes. The high crosswinds made it difficult for him and his teammates to catch up. The second group at the finish caused him to slip out of the top ten. Even though he lost his second position, he still did well in the Alps and finished 8th overall. After the 10th stage of the Vuelta a Espaa, Valverde was fourth in the race. He moved up to 3rd on stage 11 after finishing 8th in the time trial. On stage 14, he was dropped by the G.C. The contender is a minute back. He was able to limit his losses on the final climb by staying within a minute of his rivals. He was able to cut back a few seconds on Nibali and Horner. He was 20 minutes behind the race leader. He finished third in the Alto de l'Angliru stage and was one minute and 36 seconds behind the race winner. He took third place at the World Championships, but was criticized for not covering the attack on Portuguese Rui Costa. Costa sprinted Rodrguez, his Spanish teammate. In the general classification, he finished in fourth place. The Clsica de San Sebastin was won by Valverde for the second time. He was 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 He finished the Spanish Grand Tour on the third step of the podium, behind Chris Froome and the overall winner. After the Vuelta, it was announced that he had signed a three-year contract with them, meaning that he would ride for them until at least 2017. For the third year in a row, Valverde stood on the podium at the World Road Race Championships. He moved up to first place in the World Tour rankings after coming in second at the Giro di Lombardia. The cyclist won three stages in the Volta a Catalunya. He helped score a 1–2 for his teammate on stage 2 after getting the better of a bunch sprint. He launched a late attack on stage 5 as he was part of a small group of people who were coming into Valls. He snatched the second place of the overall classification after winning the sprint of a group of about 40 riders on the last stage. He came in second at the Amstel Gold Race, but was beaten by a small group sprint. On Wednesday, he equalled the record number of victories on La Flche Wallonne with three victories. He went one better the following Sunday, winning the sprint of a small group of riders to impose himself on Lige–Bastogne–Lige. It was the third time in his career that he had won La Doyenne. He became the second rider after Ferdinand Kbler to win the Lige–Bastogne–Lige and La Flche Wallonne in the same year. He won the Spanish National Road Race Championships. He achieved a lifelong dream of a top 3 finish at the Tour de France, finishing on the podium for the first time. He had one career goal left, a World Championship victory. The road race at the Olympic Games in Rio was one of the main goals for the 2016 season. He took the overall at the Vuelta a Andaluca in February. He was the leader on the climb up to the finish on the final stage. He went to Tenerife to prepare for the Giro after changing his plans for the Tour of Flanders. He returned to competition by winning two stages and the overall at the Vuelta a Castilla y Len which he chose to race instead of the Amstel Gold Race, a race still lacking from his palmres. He became the most prolific winner of the "smaller" Ardennes Classic with his fourth win. He showed his climbing prowess by controlling up until the last moment, when he sprinted away from his competitors to win. He went out to win another Lige–Bastogne–Lige win on the Sunday but fell short and finished 16th. He was on the start list for the Giro d'Italia for the first time. He lost more than three minutes on the queen stage in the Dolomites in the high mountains. He won the first Giro d'Italia stage the day after the rest day in Andalo, his 14th stage win over the three Grand Tours. He became the 16th cyclist to finish on the podium in each of the three Grand Tours after outclimbing Steven Kruijswijk on the last mountain stage. After finishing sixth in the Tour de France, Valverde earned his ninth consecutive top 10 finish in his last nine grand tour starts. He was third at the 2016 Clsica de San Sebastin. He finished 12th in the general classification and third in the points classification at the Vuelta a Espaa. He was the 33rd rider in cycling history to complete all three grand tours in the same season. The World Tour season ended with a fourth place finish for Valverde. The Vuelta a Murcia was the first win of the season for Valverde, who had previously won four times. He followed this up with a win in the Vuelta a Andaluca for the fifth time in six years, defeating runner-up Alberto Contador by a single second and winning stage one. The 100th victory was the overall win. After not starting the Paris–Nice due to illness, Valverde went on to win stages three, five, and seven and beat the runner-up by over a minute. He and his team were given a one-minute penalty for pushing in the opening team time trial. At the Tour of the Basque Country, Valverde won stage five and went into the final day's individual time trial as the race leader, but on the same time as's Rigoberto Urn and Michael Woods and Romain Bardet. After finishing second in the time trial, he beat Contador by fourteen seconds to extend his overall lead, and then 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 He won the race for the fourth consecutive year and the fifth time overall. A few days later in Lige–Bastogne–Lige, Dan Martin tried to take the win, but he was outsprinted at the line by Alejandro Valverde. After taking time off from racing to train at a 25-day altitude camp at Sierra Nevada, he finished third in the stage four time trial of the Critérium du Dauphine, which was won by Tony Martin. He put time into the rest of his general classification rivals, including defending champion Chris Froome. After the mountain stages, he was consistently aggressive, however it failed to pay off and by the end of the race he was in ninth place. Going into the Tour de France, Valverde stated that he would work for his teammate, however he was still considered an outside bet for the final podium by many pundits. After crashing on a tight corner on the opening individual time trial stage, Alejandro Valverde withdrew from the Tour. He was ruled out for several months because of a fractured kneecap. The decision was made to end the season because of his knee injury in order to be ready for the start of the new season. The Challenge Mallorca was where Valverde returned to racing in January. He was 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 He finished second to Luis Len Snchez in the Vuelta a Murcia. The overall victory at the Abu Dhabi Tour was claimed by Valverde. Valverde finished 17 seconds ahead of Kelderman. The Strade Bianche classic was held partially on gravel roads in the rain. He finished fourth, 25 seconds behind the winner. He won the Volta a Catalunya for the third time. After winning the second and fourth stages, he took the race lead and the mountains jersey as well. He finished 29 seconds clear of his nearest rival after his teammate crashed out of the race on the final day. His next race, the cobbled classic Dwars door Vlaanderen, resulted in an 11th place showing after being in the mix for the victory until the successful break of eventual winner Yves Lampaert in the closing kilometers. He started his campaign with a fifth place at the Amstel Gold Race after winning the GP Miguel Indurin. He had won the race four years in a row, but was beaten by a Frenchman the next day. He was unable to win the Lige–Bastogne–Lige race and finished 13th, making it the first time in four years that he did not win an Ardennes Classic race. He prepared for the Tour de France by winning the Route d'Occitanie stage race. The leader failed to threaten the podium after he made several long attacks in service of his teammates. The Vuelta a Espaa was where Valverde was supposed to work. He won stage 2 in an uphill sprint and stage 8 in a reduced bunch sprint. He was in a good position in the general classification and still had a chance of victory. He won the points classification for the fourth time, despite struggling in the last two stages in Andorra. He won the gold medal at the UCI Road World Championships. He triumphed in a small group sprint at the finish line ahead of Romain Bardet, Michael Woods and Tom Dumoulin, becoming the second oldest Road World Champion in history. He has been chasing a victory for 15 years. He finished second to Ion Izagirre in the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, his first major result of the year. He finished second to Luis Len Snchez at the Vuelta a Murcia. He won the sprint at the summit of stage 3 to take his first victory as World Champion. He finished the race in second place. He participated in the monument for the first time during the spring classics. He finished in the top eight. He had a difficult end to his spring campaign. During the race, he swallowed a bee and finished 11th. There was a crash in the lead up to Lige. He abandoned the event the first time he had not finished because he didn't know the severity of his injury. He won at the Route d'Occitanie after recovering from his injuries. He won the Spanish National Road Race Championships for the third time. He finished ninth in the Tour de France. At the Vuelta a Espaa, Valverde won stage 7 at Mas de la Costa. He finished the Vuelta in second place. At the World Championship road race in Yorkshire, run in very rainy conditions, Valverde abandoned his title defence. At the end of the season, he finished second to Bauke Mollema. The cyclist finished twenty-fourth in the Tour de France. Second place on stage 15 was his best result. He participated in the Men's individual road race in the 2020 Summer Olympics, his 5th participation in Olympic Games. The Operacin Puerto, a blood-doping affair which erupted in May 2006 against doctor Eufemiano Fuentes and a number of accomplices, has been linked by documentary and DNA evidence to Alejandro Valverde. There were bags of blood and human blood, and code names that appeared to link top athletes, including up to 60 cyclists, to a highly organized system of drug use. The documents from Madrid's Court 31 linked Valverde to a single bag of human blood, which was seized in the investigation. The codes Valv, Piti and 18 were on the bag. The International Cycling Union banned Valverde from competing in the Road World Championships in 2007, but he was cleared by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to compete. The president of the World Anti-Doping Agency said that the CAS decision did not mean that Valverde was no longer a suspect. The Italian National Olympic Committee matched the samples from the rest day in Italy of the 2008 Tour de France to the samples from the Operacin Puerto investigation. At a February 2009, appearance in front of the Olympic Committee, Valverde maintained his innocence and questioned the Italians' jurisdiction over this case. The Italian Olympic Committee suspended him from competition in Italy for 2 years in May 2009, preventing him from competing in the Tour de France. The Spanish Cycling Federation decided not to open a case against Valverde despite the fact that he had filed an unsuccessful appeal against the Italian ban. On 31 May 2010 it was announced that the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the appeals from WADA and the UCI, but rejected the request that any results obtained by the athlete prior to the beginning of the suspension be nullified. Alejandro Valverde returned to competition in 2012 after serving a two-year suspension. After a lengthy court battle, he was suspended for two years as part of the Operacin Puerto blood-doping investigation, but he returned to competition in 2012 after completing the ban. His results from 2010 were stripped, including the overall win in the 2010 Tour de Romandie, and he did not compete in 2011. There are External links to Caisse d'Epargne's Official Website.
masked_text_original: <mask> (born 25 April 1980) is a Spanish road racing cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam . <mask>'s biggest wins have been the Vuelta a España in 2009, Critérium du Dauphiné in 2008 and 2009, Tour of the Basque Country in 2017, Volta a Catalunya in 2009, 2017 and 2018, Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2006, 2008, 2015 and 2017, La Flèche Wallonne in 2006, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, the Clásica de San Sebastián in 2008 and 2014, the 2006 and 2008 UCI ProTours, the 2014 and 2015 UCI World Tours, and the road race in the 2018 World Championships. Overall, <mask> has 131 professional wins. Prior to his Worlds win, he already held the record for most medals won at World Championships – he twice collected the silver medal in the World Championships, in 2003 and 2005, as well as the bronze four times in 2006, 2012, 2013 and 2014. As of 2021, <mask> has entered thirty grand tours, finished twenty-five of them and placed in the Top 10 of a grand tour on twenty occasions. He also shares the record for most wins in the Points Competition in Vuelta history with Sean Kelly and Laurent Jalabert. <mask> is rare in combining different specialties in road bicycle racing, being a strong climbing specialist, sprinter and a good time-trialist.The online database Cycling Ranking ranks him as the 4th most successful cyclist of all time. Biography 
  Born in Las Lumbreras, Murcia, <mask> came from a cycling family, his father Juan was an amateur bicycle racer and bought him a bike when he was six years old. His brother Juan Francisco was also an amateur road racing cyclist. <mask>'s first race was in Jumilla, in his region of Murcia, and he finished second. On the following week he won his second race in Yecla. He allegedly took more than fifty consecutive victories between 11 and 13 years old, earning him the nickname El Imbatido (The Unbeaten). Amateur career 
  Due to his many wins, <mask> was offered to ride for the elite amateur team Banesto based in Navarre, some distance away from his home in Murcia.Perhaps due to the exhaustion from having to travel back and forth every weekend, his performance suffered while with the team. He moved to the development team of the  professional squad and was coached by Francisco Moya, whom he credited with helping him become a better cyclist. Kelme also promised to allow him to move to the professional squad if he showed good performance. At the end of his first season with the Kelme amateur squad, they offered to move him to the professional squad. Kelme (2002–2004) 
  Valverde turned professional in 2002 when he signed a contract with the Spanish team , with whom he stayed until the end of the 2004 season. During his time with Kelme he had a breakthrough year in the 2003 Vuelta a España, where he won two stages and finished third in the General classification. That year he also won the Vuelta a Mallorca and a stage in Tour of the Basque Country and other Spanish races like GP Primavera and GP Villafranca de Ordizia.He ended the season with a second place in the 2003 UCI Road World Championships behind Igor Astarloa after winning the sprint ahead of Peter Van Petegem and Paolo Bettini. In the 2004 season he decided to stay with Kelme despite the team's financial woes and offers from other teams. He went on to win the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, the Vuelta a Murcia, a stage in the Tour of the Basque Country, the Vuelta a Burgos and taking fourth in the Vuelta a España. Although he won a stage in the Vuelta, he was injured in a crash that forced him to downscale his ambitions in the overall classification. He also participated in the Summer Olympics. Caisse d'Epargne/Movistar (2005–present)
  
  2005 
  
  Valverde joined the UCI ProTeam  in 2005. He won the last stage in Paris–Nice and finished second overall behind Bobby Julich.He also took two stages in the Tour of the Basque Country. In his first ever appearance at the Tour de France, he won the 10th stage of the Tour de France ahead of Lance Armstrong, whom he beat in the sprint into Courchevel at the end of a mountain stage in the Alps. After Stage 12, he was in 5th place on GC, 3 minutes and 16 seconds behind Armstrong. He was also leading in the young rider classification (white jersey), with a 3-minute and 9 second lead on Armstrong's teammate Yaroslav Popovych. However, <mask> was forced to withdraw from the Tour during the 13th stage because of a knee injury. <mask> recovered barely in time for the UCI Road World Championships in Madrid, Spain. The injury of Óscar Freire, who was the Spanish team captain, forced him to become the team leader, despite having had only one day of competition before the Worlds.Amazingly, he was able to be competitive and finished second to winner Tom Boonen. 2006 
  
  In 2006, <mask> won a stage in the Tour of the Basque Country, finishing 2nd overall and capturing the points competition. He then completed a prestigious double in the Spring classics, winning La Flèche Wallonne and taking victory four days later at Liège–Bastogne–Liège. <mask> subsequently won a stage in the Tour de Romandie finishing 3rd overall. <mask> planned to challenge at the 2006 Tour de France, and stated that he hoped to win in the future. He went to the Pinarello bicycle factory in Treviso, Italy, to optimize his time-trialing performance. In fact he started among the favourites for the Tour after the withdrawal of Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso due to a doping investigation.However, on the third stage of the race, <mask> crashed, and had to abandon the Tour with a fractured right collarbone. His ambition to win a Grand Tour shifted to the Vuelta a España, later that year. <mask> entered the Vuelta a España as the top favorite. Since he did not ride a full Tour de France he was in better condition than some of the other candidates for the victory: defending champion Denis Menchov and Carlos Sastre both ended in the top 10 of the Tour de France and were expected to be somewhat fatigued. <mask> won the 7th stage and dominated mountain stages, earning him the gold leader jersey after stage 9. <mask> lost the jersey however due to the aggressive climbing and attacking of Alexander Vinokourov. In the last time trial, <mask> again lost time on Vinokourov and had to settle for the 2nd place in the overall standings, his second podium finish in a Grand Tour.Following his impressive performance in the Vuelta, <mask> won yet another major title, winning the UCI ProTour with several major races still left on the calendar as his point lead had reached unassailable levels. At the UCI Road World Championships, <mask> was considered one of the favorites for the title. Although he did not win, he was able to finish 3rd and claim a bronze medal. 2007 
  He started 2007 by winning the overall classification at Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana and Vuelta a Murcia. In stage 4 of the Vuelta a Murcia, <mask> accomplished his first win in an individual time trial. He also finished third in the Critérium International and fifth in the Tour of the Basque Country. In the Ardennes classics he took second place in both La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège, unable to repeat the double victory of 2006 season.In the Tour de France, <mask> was seen as one of the favorites for the yellow jersey until he had a disastrous individual time trial that diminished his chances of fighting for the overall classification. He subsequently finished sixth overall, eleven minutes behind, and thus finished his first Tour de France after being unable to complete the race in 2005 and 2006. He decided not to race the Vuelta a España in order to prepare for the UCI Road World Championships. On 29 August 2007, the UCI announced that they prevented Valverde from riding the World Championships in Stuttgart because of his possible implication in the Operación Puerto doping case to safeguard the atmosphere and reputation of the World Championships. The UCI also called upon the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) to open disciplinary proceedings against the rider, but RFEC refused to comply with the UCI's request, saying there was no new evidence against him. RFEC also included <mask> in its squad for the World Championships, where he ended up 2nd. The matter was taken to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which authorised Valverde to participate in the World Championships.2008 
  
  In 2008, <mask> showed strong form in the spring. After winning the Vuelta a Murcia, <mask> was focused on training. He announced his readiness with a podium finish in the Klasika Primavera and a triumph at the Paris–Camembert. These successes foreshadowed excellent results in the Ardennes classics: a podium at the Amstel Gold Race and victory in Liège–Bastogne–Liège. <mask> also won the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré and the Spanish National Road Race Championships in June. On 5 July, <mask> won the first stage of the Tour de France. His form faltered in the Pyrenees, and after being dropped on the Col du Tourmalet, eventually losing 5' 52" to stage winner Leonardo Piepoli, scrapping hopes of a podium finish.He performed better in the Alps and claimed a top ten finish. On Alpe d'Huez it appeared that he was working alongside  to try to eliminate Cadel Evans. He followed the Tour with a strong victory in the Clásica de San Sebastián, leading out the sprint and holding off Alexandr Kolobnev and Davide Rebellin. Later, at the Vuelta a España, he started strong, winning the second stage and wearing the general classification leader's jersey on the third one. He was among the leaders in the first week. However, he lost around two minutes on a very wet stage to Saunces and any chance of a podium finish. However, he ended up in fourth position overall at the end with some strong performances including an impressive ride up the Angliru, where he was only bettered by Alberto Contador and then a good performance in the mountain time-trial.Before the participation at the UCI Road World Championships at Varese, he was mathematically proclaimed the UCI ProTour winner, being his second win in the four editions of the competition. 2009 
  
  <mask> started 2009 in good form by taking the points and mountains classifications in the Vuelta a Castilla y León while finishing 9th overall with two stage victories. He could not repeat his successes of the last few years in the spring classics with his best result being a 7th at La Flèche Wallonne. He won the Klasika Primavera and the Volta a Catalunya to put those disappointments behind him. With the threat of not racing the Tour de France hanging over his head he entered the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré hoping to prove his worth. He performed consistently throughout the two early time-trials to stay in touch with the leaders before finishing second on Mont Ventoux to take the lead in the overall classification. Though Cadel Evans repeatedly attacked him in the final days he stayed on his wheel, with the help of compatriot Alberto Contador, to take the yellow jersey.On the back of these successes he appealed his ban by the Italian authorities with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in the hope of racing the tour. On 20 September 2009, <mask> clinched the overall victory in the Vuelta a España. Despite having no stage victories, <mask>'s consistency in the mountains allowed him to keep his race all the way to end that he captured on stage 9. 2010 
  All his 2010 results were annulled because of the suspension. 2012 
  
  <mask> made his return to the peloton during the Tour Down Under, the first race of the UCI World Tour season. He won the race's fifth stage – the queen stage of the event – by out-sprinting 's Simon Gerrans in a two-man sprint in Willunga, and finished second overall. He earned his first overall victory since his return, by winning February's Vuelta a Andalucía, as well as achieving a stage victory during the race.<mask> also finished third in Paris–Nice, and by winning stage 3 showed good form for the upcoming Tour de France. In the Tour de France he sat casually in the peloton until initiating a breakaway in stage 17, which he held onto after breaking away from the other 16 riders in the breakaway. almost chased him down, ending only 19 seconds adrift; it was <mask>'s fourth Tour de France stage victory. <mask> entered the Vuelta a España as a lieutenant to the defending champion Juan José Cobo in the . However, <mask> would soon become the leader when it became apparent that Cobo was not in top form. His  started off with a victory in the first stage, a team time trial. <mask> would take the lead of the general, points and combination classifications after winning Stage 3, in which he chased down repeated attacks from Alberto Contador and outsprinted Joaquim Rodríguez at the finishing line.He would subsequently lose the lead to Rodríguez, but won the eighth stage atop the Collada de la Gallina in Andorra. Contador broke away from the small lead group and looked like he was heading for the win, but Rodríguez and Valverde passed him with less than  to go, with Valverde taking the win. <mask> ultimately finished the Vuelta in second position overall after being a constant threat for the leader, which was Rodríguez until stage 17 where Contador soloed to victory and grabbed the lead, which he would not relinquish. <mask> won both the points and combination classification jerseys on the final day from Rodríguez as a result of a sixth-place finish on the last stage in Madrid. <mask> had to settle for a bronze medal in the World Championships in Valkenburg, as he was unable to reach Philippe Gilbert who attacked on the final climb of the Cauberg. He was the first of a group of 27 riders who had a five seconds deficit on the Belgian when crossing the line. He was supposed to participate in the Giro di Lombardia, but announced on the morning of the race that he was suffering from influenza and was putting an end to his 2012 season.2013 
  
  As in 2012, <mask> won the overall classification of the Vuelta a Andalucía in 2013, where he also won the points classification in the race. <mask> continued showing some good form after finishing with podium places in the Vuelta a Murcia, the Amstel Gold Race and in Liège–Bastogne–Liège. After having a decent spring campaign, <mask> aimed for a podium finish in the Tour de France. <mask> started the Tour in good form after finishing third in Ax3 Domaines behind Chris Froome and Richie Porte. However the next day, Porte lost over 15 minutes which moved <mask> into second overall right before the tour left the Pyrenees. On Stage 13, <mask> lost almost 10 minutes after getting a flat tyre. Despite a very hard pursuit, the high crosswinds and the pace of the peloton prevented him and his teammates from catching back.They ended up with the second group at the finish causing him to slip out of the top ten. Despite losing his second position, <mask> managed to do well in the Alps which moved him back into the top ten of the overall standings, finishing 8th overall. At the Vuelta a España, after stage 10, <mask> sat fourth overall a minute behind race leader Chris Horner. However, on stage 11, he moved back up into 3rd after finishing 8th in the time trial. On stage 14, on a rainy descent, <mask> was dropped by the G.C. contenders entering the final climb a minute back. He managed to limit his losses on the final climb staying within a minute of his rivals, though losing close to a minute on Nibali, Horner, and Joaquim Rodríguez.On stage 16, he managed to cut back a handful of seconds on Nibali and Horner. He entered the penultimate stage 20 a minute behind the race leader. He came third of the stage which finished atop the steep Alto de l'Angliru, securing a podium finish in the general classification, one minute and 36 seconds behind race winner Horner. At the World Championships, he took the third place, but was criticized for failing to cover the late attack of Portuguese Rui Costa. Costa eventually reached and out sprinted Rodríguez, <mask>'s Spanish teammate. 2014 
  
  In the Tour de France, <mask> ended in fourth place in the general classification. On 2 August 2014 <mask> won the Clásica de San Sebastián for the second time in his career.He won the first uphill finish of the Vuelta a España by powering away from the leaders after leading the group for most of the final climb. He finished the Spanish Grand Tour on the third step of the podium behind Chris Froome and the overall winner Alberto Contador. After the Vuelta, it was announced that <mask> had signed a three-year contract with his , meaning that he would ride for them until at least 2017. At the World Road Race Championships in Ponferrada, <mask> stood on the third step on the podium for the third year in a row. He came in second at the Giro di Lombardia, passing Contador for first place in the UCI World Tour rankings. 2015 
  
  <mask> grabbed three stage victories in the Volta a Catalunya. On stage 2, he got the better of a bunch sprint and helped score a 1–2 for the  with his teammate José Joaquín Rojas.On stage 5, he launched a late attack as he was part of a small group containing all the leaders coming into Valls and won solo. On the last stage, he won the sprint of a group of about 40 riders and with the bonus seconds, snatched the second place of the overall classification from Domenico Pozzovivo. At the Amstel Gold Race he came in second, being bested in a small group sprint by Michał Kwiatkowski. The following Wednesday, <mask> equalled the record number of victories on La Flèche Wallonne with 3, distancing Julian Alaphilippe and Michael Albasini in the final meters of the Mur de Huy. He went one better the following Sunday, winning the sprint of a small group of riders to impose himself on Liège–Bastogne–Liège. It was the third time in his career <mask> had won La Doyenne. It was also the second time that he had won Liège–Bastogne–Liège and La Flèche Wallonne in the same year, becoming only the second rider to have achieved this double twice, after Ferdinand Kübler.In June, he won the Spanish National Road Race Championships. At the Tour de France, <mask> finished on the podium in 3rd place, his first podium finish at the Tour; achieving a lifelong dream of a top 3 finish. With that finish he had one career goal left, a World Championship victory. 2016 
  <mask>'s main goals for the 2016 season were the Ardennes classics, the Giro d'Italia and the Road Race at the Olympic Games in Rio. He started his season by taking the overall at the Vuelta a Andalucía in February. He out-powered the rest of the contenders, including Tejay van Garderen and Rafał Majka, on the climb up to the finish on the final stage. <mask> changed his initial plan of riding the Tour of Flanders and went to Tenerife to prepare for the Giro.He returned to competition by winning two stages and the overall at the Vuelta a Castilla y León which he chose to race instead of the Amstel Gold Race, a race still lacking from his palmáres. The following Wednesday he took his third consecutive La Flèche Wallonne victory and became the most prolific winner of the "smaller" Ardennes Classic with his fourth win. He showed his climbing prowess by controlling up until the last  when he accelerated away from his rivals to take the victory. The Sunday following, he went out to repeat his Ardennes double from 2015 by securing another Liège–Bastogne–Liège win but he fell short and only managed to finish 16th. <mask> was named in the start list for the Giro d'Italia, his first participation in the Italian race. <mask> rode a consistent race but struggled in the high mountains especially on the queen stage in the Dolomites where he lost more than three minutes. He fought back the very next day with a third place in the mountain time trial and managed to win his first Giro d'Italia stage the day after the rest day in Andalo, his 14th stage win over the three Grand Tours.He secured his spot on the podium by outclimbing Steven Kruijswijk on the very last mountain stage and finished third overall, becoming only the 16th cyclist to finish on the podium in each of the three Grand Tours. Later that year, <mask> finished sixth in the Tour de France, earning his ninth consecutive top 10 finish in his last nine grand tour starts. A week later he was third at the 2016 Clásica de San Sebastián. At the Vuelta a España he finished 12th in the general classification and third in the points classification. Upon completing the Vuelta he became just the 33rd rider in cycling history to complete all three grand tours in the same season. <mask> finished fourth in the World Tour season standings. 2017 
  In February 2017 <mask> took his first win of the season at the Vuelta a Murcia, a race that he had previously won four times.He followed this up with a win in the Vuelta a Andalucía for the fifth time in six years, defeating runner-up Alberto Contador by a single second and winning stage one in the process. The overall win was the 100th victory in <mask>'s career. After not starting Paris–Nice due to illness, <mask> went on to dominate the Volta a Catalunya by winning stages three, five, and seven and beating runner-up Contador by over a minute. This was done in spite of him and his team being given a one-minute penalty for "pushes" in the opening team time trial. At the Tour of the Basque Country, <mask> won stage five and went into the final day's individual time trial as the race leader, albeit on the same time as 's Rigoberto Urán and Michael Woods, 's Romain Bardet, and ' Louis Meintjes, along with having just a three-second advantage over Contador. In the time trial, <mask> finished second on the day to Primož Roglič of  by just nine seconds, and he beat Contador by fourteen seconds, extending his overall lead, and giving <mask> his third stage race victory of the season. He punctuated his dominance in La Flèche Wallonne by winning the race for the fourth consecutive year and the fifth time overall.A few days later in Liège–Bastogne–Liège, <mask> fended off a late attack from Dan Martin and managed to outsprint him at the line and take his fourth win in the event. After taking time off from racing to train at a 25-day altitude camp at Sierra Nevada, Valverde raced in the Critérium du Dauphiné, where in the stage four time trial he clocked the third best time, losing out only to world time trial champion Tony Martin () and 's Richie Porte by twelve and twenty-four seconds respectively. He managed to put time into the rest of his general classification rivals, including Contador, Bardet, and most notably, defending champion Chris Froome (). Over the subsequent mountain stages, <mask> was consistently aggressive, however it failed to pay off and by the end of the Dauphiné he was 4 minutes 8 seconds down on 's Jakob Fuglsang, in ninth place overall. Going into the Tour de France, <mask> stated that he would work for his teammate Nairo Quintana, however he was still considered an outside bet for the final podium by many pundits. On the opening individual time trial stage, <mask> crashed on a tight corner and was forced to abandon the Tour immediately; his first Grand Tour withdrawal since 2006. He suffered a fractured kneecap, ruling him out for several months.Ultimately, <mask> opted to end his 2017 season because of his knee injury with the hope of making his comeback at the start of the 2018 season. 2018 
  
  <mask> returned to racing at the Challenge Mallorca in late January 2018. At the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, he took his first victory after his comeback, winning stage two and taking the overall lead in the process. The following weekend, he finished second to compatriot Luis León Sánchez in the Vuelta a Murcia. Later in February, <mask> claimed overall victory at the Abu Dhabi Tour, winning the stage to Jebel Hafeet. <mask> finished 17 seconds clear of Dutch rider Wilco Kelderman from . In March, <mask> rode the Strade Bianche classic, held partially on gravel roads in torrential rain.He finished fourth, 1 minute and 25 seconds behind winner Tiesj Benoot of . Later that month, <mask> won the Volta a Catalunya for the third time in his career. <mask> won the second and fourth stages during the race, taking the race lead – and the mountains jersey as well – for good after his second stage victory. He finished 29 seconds clear of his nearest rival, teammate Nairo Quintana, after Quintana's Colombian compatriot Egan Bernal () crashed out of the race on the final day. His next race, the cobbled classic Dwars door Vlaanderen, resulted in an 11th place showing after being in the mix for the victory until the successful breakaway of eventual winner Yves Lampaert in the closing kilometers. After taking victory in the GP Miguel Induráin followed by a second place in the Klasika Primavera, he began his Ardennes campaign with 5th place at the Amstel Gold Race. On the following Wednesday he was beaten by Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe at La Flèche Wallonne, a race he had won the four previous years.Furthermore, he was unable to win Liège–Bastogne–Liège and finished 13th making it the first time since 2013 that he did not win an Ardennes Classic race. After a lengthy break he won the Route d'Occitanie stage race in June where he prepared for the Tour de France. He made several long attacks in service of his teammates Quintana and Mikel Landa but all the three  leaders failed to threaten the podium. <mask> returned for the Vuelta a España where was supposed to work for Quintana. He won stage 2 in an uphill sprint and stage 8 in a reduced bunch sprint, beating then World Champion Peter Sagan in the latter. He maintained a high position in the general classification until the last weekend and still had a chance of overall victory. He struggled in the last two stages in Andorra and only managed to finish 5th, but won the points classification for a record-equalling fourth time.<mask> won the gold medal at the UCI Road World Championships in Innsbruck, in his twelfth participation. He triumphed in a small group sprint at the finish line ahead of Romain Bardet, Michael Woods and Tom Dumoulin, becoming the second oldest Road World Champion in history after Joop Zoetemelk. An emotional <mask> called this his biggest ever victory and one he has chased for 15 years. 2019 
  <mask> took his first major result of 2019 when he finished second overall to Ion Izagirre in the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. He then finished second again, this time to Luis León Sánchez, at the Vuelta a Murcia. At the 2019 UAE Tour, <mask> took his first victory as World Champion by winning the sprint at the summit finish of stage 3. He would go on to finish the race in second place overall.During the spring classics, <mask> rode the Tour of Flanders, his first participation in the monument. He finished the race in eighth place. <mask> endured a difficult end to his spring campaign. At the Flèche Wallonne, he swallowed a bee during the race and eventually finished 11th. A crash in the leadup to Liège–Bastogne–Liège resulted in a bone edema. <mask> started the race, not knowing of the severity of his injury, and then abandoned during the event, the first time he had not finished. After recovering from his injuries, he returned to racing at the Route d'Occitanie, which he won.On 30 June, he won the Spanish National Road Race Championships for the third time in his career. At the Tour de France, he finished ninth overall. At the Vuelta a España, <mask> took victory at stage 7 of the race, a summit finish at Mas de la Costa. He would eventually finish the Vuelta in second place overall, 2:16 minutes behind Primož Roglič. At the World Championship road race in Yorkshire, run in very rainy conditions, <mask> abandoned his title defence with about  to go. Towards the end of the season, he finished second to Bauke Mollema at Il Lombardia. 2021 
  <mask> competed in the 2021 Tour de France, finishing twenty-fourth.His best result was a second place on stage 15 (Céret-Andorra la Vella). He also participated in the Men's individual road race in the 2020 Summer Olympics, his 5th participation in Olympic Games. Doping 
  <mask> has been linked by documentary and DNA evidence to the Operación Puerto, a blood-doping affair which erupted in May 2006 against doctor Eufemiano Fuentes and a number of accomplices. It uncovered doping products, bags of blood and human plasma, and code names that appeared to link top athletes, including up to 60 cyclists, to a highly organized system of doping, which relied heavily on blood transfusions. <mask> was not initially linked in the investigation, but documents from Madrid's Court 31 linked Valverde to a single bag of human plasma of the 211 total bags of blood and plasma seized in the investigation. The bag of human plasma was labelled with the codes Valv, Piti and 18. In 2007 <mask> was banned by the International Cycling Union (UCI) from competing in the UCI Road World Championships in Stuttgart but <mask> was cleared by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to compete at the championships.Dick Pound, World Anti-Doping Agency president, said the CAS decision did not mean that <mask> was no longer a suspect. In early 2009 the Italian National Olympic Committee matched DNA samples taken from Valverde during a rest day in Italy of the 2008 Tour de France to plasma seized in the Operación Puerto investigation. At a February 2009 appearance in front of the Olympic Committee, <mask> maintained his innocence and questioned the Italians' jurisdiction over this case. In May 2009, the Italian Olympic Committee suspended him from competition in Italy for 2 years, effectively barring him from the 2009 Tour de France, which detoured briefly onto Italian soil. <mask> filed an unsuccessful appeal against the Italian ban with the Court of Arbitration for Sport; in a second hearing on 18–21 March 2010, the UCI and WADA contested the Spanish Cycling Federation's decision not to open a case against Valverde. Finally, on 31 May 2010 it was announced the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the appeals from WADA and the UCI and <mask> was banned for two years, starting 1 January 2010, but rejected the request that any results obtained by the athlete prior to the beginning of the suspension be annulled. After serving the two-year suspension <mask> returned to competition in 2012 riding for the .After a lengthy court battle, he was suspended for two years as part of the Operación Puerto blood doping investigation, but he returned to competition in 2012 upon completion of the ban. All his results from 2010 were stripped, including the overall win in the 2010 Tour de Romandie, and he did not compete in 2011. Career achievements
  
  Awards 
   Vélo d'Or: 2018
  
  Notes
  
  References
  
  External links 
  
  Caisse d'Epargne's Official Website profile 
  
  <mask>de at Cycling Ranking
  
  1980 births
  Cyclists at the 2004 Summer Olympics
  Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics
  Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Olympics
  Cyclists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
  Cyclists at the 2020 Summer Olympics
  Doping cases in cycling
  Spanish sportspeople in doping cases
  Living people
  Olympic cyclists of Spain
  Spanish male cyclists
  Spanish Tour de France stage winners
  Spanish Vuelta a España stage winners
  People from Huerta de Murcia
  Vuelta a España winners
  2014 Vuelta a España stage winners
  Cyclists from the Region of Murcia
  Spanish Giro d'Italia stage winners
  UCI Road World Champions (elite men)
  Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Spain
  Mediterranean Games medalists in cycling
  Competitors at the 2001 Mediterranean Games
  UCI ProTour winners
  UCI World Tour winners
masked_text_paraphrased: <mask> is a Spanish road racing cyclist who rides for the UCI World Team. The Vuelta a Espaa, the Tour of the Basque Country, the Lige–Bastogne–Lige, and the Tour of Catalunya have all been won by <mask>. There are 131 professional wins for <mask>. Prior to his Worlds win, he held the record for most medals won at World Championships, with two silver medals and four bronze medals. As of 2021, he has entered thirty grand tours, finished twenty-five of them, and placed in the Top 10 on twenty occasions. He shares the record for most wins in the Points Competition with Sean Kelly and Laurent Jalabert. Being a strong climbing specialist, sprinter and a good time-trialist is rare in road bicycle racing.He is the 4th most successful cyclist of all time. Juan was an amateur bicycle racer and bought his son a bike when he was six years old. Juan Francisco was an amateur cyclist. He finished second in his first race in Jumilla. He won his second race the following week. He was nicknamed El Imbatido (The Unbeaten) because he took more than fifty victories between 11 and 13 years old. Due to his many wins, <mask> was offered to ride for an elite amateur team based in Navarre, some distance away from his home in Murcia.His performance may have suffered due to the exhaustion he had to travel back and forth every weekend. He credited Francisco Moya with helping him become a better cyclist after he moved to the development team of the professional squad. If he showed good performance, Kelme would allow him to move to the professional squad. At the end of his first season with the Kelme amateur squad, they offered to move him to the professional squad. After signing a contract with the Spanish team, Kelme stayed until the end of the 2004 season. He had a breakthrough year in the Vuelta a Espaa in 2003 when he won two stages and finished third in the general classification. He won the Vuelta a Mallorca and a stage in the Tour of the Basque Country that year.He finished second in the 2003 UCI Road World Championships after winning the sprint ahead of Peter Van Petegem and Paolo Bettini. Despite the team's financial troubles, he decided to stay with Kelme. He won the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, the Vuelta a Murcia, the Tour of the Basque Country, the Vuelta a Burgos, and the Vuelta a Espaa. Although he won a stage in the Vuelta, he was injured in a crash that forced him to scale back his ambitions in the overall classification. He was in the Summer Olympics. Caisse d'Epargne/Movistar joined the UCI ProTeam in 2005. He finished second in the overall race after winning the last stage in Paris–Nice.He took two stages in the Tour of the Basque Country. In his first ever appearance at the Tour de France, he won the 10th stage of the Tour de France ahead of Lance Armstrong, who he beat in the sprint into Courchevel at the end of a mountain stage in the Alps. He was in 5th place on the GC after Stage 12. He had a 3-minute and 9 second lead on Yaroslav Popovych in the young rider classification. During the 13th stage, he withdrew from the Tour because of a knee injury. The UCI Road World Championships were held in Madrid, Spain. The injury of scar Freire, who was the Spanish team captain, forced him to become the team leader despite having only one day of competition before the Worlds.He was close to the winner and finished second. In 2006 he won a stage in the Tour of the Basque Country and captured the points competition. He took victory at Lige–Bastogne–Lige four days after winning La Flche Wallonne. The Tour de Romandie was won by <mask>. He wanted to win the Tour de France in the future. He went to the bike factory in Italy to improve his performance. He was one of the favorites for the Tour after the withdrawals of Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso.He had to abandon the Tour with a broken collarbone after crashing on the third stage. He wanted to win a Grand Tour later that year. The Vuelta a Espaa was entered by <mask> as the favorite. Defending champion Denis Menchov and Carlos Sastre both ended in the top 10 of the Tour de France and were expected to be somewhat fatigued, but since he did not ride a full Tour de France he was in better condition than some of the other candidates for the victory. He won the 7th stage and was the leader after stage 9. The jersey was lost due to the aggressive climbing of Alexander Vinokourov. In the last time trial, he lost time on Vinokourov and had to settle for the 2nd place in the overall, his second podium finish in a Grand Tour.His point lead had reached unassailable levels as he won the UCI ProTour with several major races still left on the calendar. One of the favorites for the title was <mask>. He was able to finish 3rd and claim a bronze medal even though he did not win. He won the overall classification at Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana and Vuelta a Murcia in 2007. His first win in an individual time trial was in stage 4 of the Vuelta a Murcia. He finished fifth in the Tour of the Basque Country. He was unable to repeat the double victory of the 2006 season in the Lige–Bastogne–Lige classics.In the Tour de France, <mask> was seen as one of the favorites for the yellow jersey until he had a disastrous individual time trial. After being unable to complete the race in 2005 and 2006 he finished his first Tour de France in sixth place. The Vuelta a Espaa was 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 On August 29, 2007, the UCI announced that they prevented Valverde from riding the World Championships because of his possible implication in the Operacin Puerto case to safeguard the atmosphere and reputation of the World Championships. RFEC refused to comply with the UCI's request, saying there was no new evidence against the rider. RFEC included him in its squad for the World Championships, where he finished 2nd. The matter was taken to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which allowed him to participate in the World Championships.In the spring of 2008, <mask> showed his best form. He was focused on training after winning the Vuelta a Murcia. He won the Paris–Camembert and finished on a podium. The Lige–Bastogne–Lige victory foretold excellent results in the classics. In June, he won the Spanish National Road Race Championships. The first stage of the Tour de France was won by <mask>. After being dropped on the Col du Tourmalet, he lost 5' 52" to Leonardo Piepoli, who went on to win the stage.He finished in the top ten in the Alps. It appeared that he was trying to eliminate Cadel Evans. He followed the Tour with a victory in the Clsica de San Sebastin. He wore the general classification leader's jersey on the third stage of the Vuelta a Espaa after winning the second stage. He was a leader in the first week. He lost around two minutes on a very wet stage to Saunces and no chance of a podium finish. He had a good ride up the Angliru and a good performance in the mountain time-trial to finish in fourth position.His second win in the four editions of the competition made him the winner of the UCI ProTour. In the Vuelta a Castilla y Len, he took the points and mountains classifications and finished 9th overall with two stage victories. His best result in the spring classics was a 7th at La Flche Wallonne, but he couldn't repeat his success of the last few years. He won the Volta a Catalunya to put his disappointment behind him. With the threat of not racing the Tour de France hanging over his head, he entered the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré to prove his worth. He was in touch with the leaders throughout the two early time-trials and finished second on Mont Ventoux to take the lead in the overall classification. Cadel Evans attacked him multiple times in the final days, but he stayed on his wheel and took the yellow jersey.He appealed his ban by the Italian authorities in order to race the tour. The Vuelta a Espaa was won by <mask> on 20 September 2009. His consistency in the mountains allowed him to keep his race going even though he had no stage victories. His 2010 results were null and void because of the suspension. The Tour Down Under was the first race of the World Tour season. He beat Simon Gerrans in a two-man sprint to win the queen stage of the race and finish second overall. He won the Vuelta a Andaluca in February and also achieved a stage victory.By winning stage 3 in Paris–Nice, he showed good form for the Tour de France. He broke away from the other 16 riders in the break in the 17th stage of the Tour de France, which he held onto. It was his fourth Tour de France stage victory and he almost chased him down. The Vuelta a Espaa was won by Juan José Cobo. When it became apparent that Cobo was not in top form, <mask> became the leader. He won the first stage, a team time trial. After winning Stage 3, he would take the lead of the general, points and combination classifications and outsprinted Joaquim Rodrguez at the finish line.He was 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 After breaking away from the small lead group, he looked like he was going to win, but Rodrguez and Valverde passed him with less than a kilometer to go. After being a constant threat for the leader, which was Rodrguez until stage 17 where Contador soloed to victory and grabbed the lead, he would not relinquish. A sixth-place finish on the last stage in Madrid gave <mask> Valverde the points and combination classification jerseys on the final day from Rodrguez. In the World Championships in Valkenburg, he was unable to reach Philippe Gilbert who attacked on the final climb of the Cauberg. A group of 27 riders had a five second deficit on the Belgian when they crossed the line. On the morning of the Giro di Lombardia, he announced that he was putting an end to his 2012 season because he was suffering from the flu.The Vuelta a Andaluca was won by <mask> in both the points classification and the overall classification. In the Vuelta a Murcia, the Amstel Gold Race, and Lige–Bastogne–Lige, <mask> finished with podium places. He wanted a podium finish in the Tour de France. The Tour got off to a good start after the third place finish by <mask>. On the next day, Porte lost over 15 minutes which moved <mask> into second overall. After getting a flat tire, <mask> lost almost 10 minutes. The high crosswinds made it difficult for him and his teammates to catch up.The second group at the finish caused him to slip out of the top ten. Even though he lost his second position, he still did well in the Alps and finished 8th overall. After the 10th stage of the Vuelta a Espaa, <mask> was fourth in the race. He moved up to 3rd on stage 11 after finishing 8th in the time trial. On stage 14, he was dropped by the G.C. The contender is a minute back. He was able to limit his losses on the final climb by staying within a minute of his rivals.He was able to cut back a few seconds on Nibali and Horner. He was 20 minutes behind the race leader. He finished third in the Alto de l'Angliru stage and was one minute and 36 seconds behind the race winner. He took third place at the World Championships, but was criticized for not covering the attack on Portuguese Rui Costa. Costa sprinted Rodrguez, his Spanish teammate. In the general classification, he finished in fourth place. The Clsica de San Sebastin was won by <mask> for the second time.He was 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 He finished the Spanish Grand Tour on the third step of the podium, behind Chris Froome and the overall winner. After the Vuelta, it was announced that he had signed a three-year contract with them, meaning that he would ride for them until at least 2017. For the third year in a row, Valverde stood on the podium at the World Road Race Championships. He moved up to first place in the World Tour rankings after coming in second at the Giro di Lombardia. The cyclist won three stages in the Volta a Catalunya. He helped score a 1–2 for his teammate on stage 2 after getting the better of a bunch sprint.He launched a late attack on stage 5 as he was part of a small group of people who were coming into Valls. He snatched the second place of the overall classification after winning the sprint of a group of about 40 riders on the last stage. He came in second at the Amstel Gold Race, but was beaten by a small group sprint. On Wednesday, he equalled the record number of victories on La Flche Wallonne with three victories. He went one better the following Sunday, winning the sprint of a small group of riders to impose himself on Lige–Bastogne–Lige. It was the third time in his career that he had won La Doyenne. He became the second rider after Ferdinand Kbler to win the Lige–Bastogne–Lige and La Flche Wallonne in the same year.He won the Spanish National Road Race Championships. He achieved a lifelong dream of a top 3 finish at the Tour de France, finishing on the podium for the first time. He had one career goal left, a World Championship victory. The road race at the Olympic Games in Rio was one of the main goals for the 2016 season. He took the overall at the Vuelta a Andaluca in February. He was the leader on the climb up to the finish on the final stage. He went to Tenerife to prepare for the Giro after changing his plans for the Tour of Flanders.He returned to competition by winning two stages and the overall at the Vuelta a Castilla y Len which he chose to race instead of the Amstel Gold Race, a race still lacking from his palmres. He became the most prolific winner of the "smaller" Ardennes Classic with his fourth win. He showed his climbing prowess by controlling up until the last moment, when he sprinted away from his competitors to win. He went out to win another Lige–Bastogne–Lige win on the Sunday but fell short and finished 16th. He was on the start list for the Giro d'Italia for the first time. He lost more than three minutes on the queen stage in the Dolomites in the high mountains. He won the first Giro d'Italia stage the day after the rest day in Andalo, his 14th stage win over the three Grand Tours.He became the 16th cyclist to finish on the podium in each of the three Grand Tours after outclimbing Steven Kruijswijk on the last mountain stage. After finishing sixth in the Tour de France, <mask> earned his ninth consecutive top 10 finish in his last nine grand tour starts. He was third at the 2016 Clsica de San Sebastin. He finished 12th in the general classification and third in the points classification at the Vuelta a Espaa. He was the 33rd rider in cycling history to complete all three grand tours in the same season. The World Tour season ended with a fourth place finish for <mask>. The Vuelta a Murcia was the first win of the season for <mask>, who had previously won four times.He followed this up with a win in the Vuelta a Andaluca for the fifth time in six years, defeating runner-up Alberto Contador by a single second and winning stage one. The 100th victory was the overall win. After not starting the Paris–Nice due to illness, <mask> went on to win stages three, five, and seven and beat the runner-up by over a minute. He and his team were given a one-minute penalty for pushing in the opening team time trial. At the Tour of the Basque Country, <mask> won stage five and went into the final day's individual time trial as the race leader, but on the same time as's Rigoberto Urn and Michael Woods and Romain Bardet. After finishing second in the time trial, he beat Contador by fourteen seconds to extend his overall lead, and then 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 800-313-5780 He won the race for the fourth consecutive year and the fifth time overall.A few days later in Lige–Bastogne–Lige, Dan Martin tried to take the win, but he was outsprinted at the line by <mask>. After taking time off from racing to train at a 25-day altitude camp at Sierra Nevada, he finished third in the stage four time trial of the Critérium du Dauphine, which was won by Tony Martin. He put time into the rest of his general classification rivals, including defending champion Chris Froome. After the mountain stages, he was consistently aggressive, however it failed to pay off and by the end of the race he was in ninth place. Going into the Tour de France, <mask> stated that he would work for his teammate, however he was still considered an outside bet for the final podium by many pundits. After crashing on a tight corner on the opening individual time trial stage, <mask> withdrew from the Tour. He was ruled out for several months because of a fractured kneecap.The decision was made to end the season because of his knee injury in order to be ready for the start of the new season. The Challenge Mallorca was where Valverde returned to racing in January. He was 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 He finished second to Luis Len Snchez in the Vuelta a Murcia. The overall victory at the Abu Dhabi Tour was claimed by Valverde. Valverde finished 17 seconds ahead of Kelderman. The Strade Bianche classic was held partially on gravel roads in the rain.He finished fourth, 25 seconds behind the winner. He won the Volta a Catalunya for the third time. After winning the second and fourth stages, he took the race lead and the mountains jersey as well. He finished 29 seconds clear of his nearest rival after his teammate crashed out of the race on the final day. His next race, the cobbled classic Dwars door Vlaanderen, resulted in an 11th place showing after being in the mix for the victory until the successful break of eventual winner Yves Lampaert in the closing kilometers. He started his campaign with a fifth place at the Amstel Gold Race after winning the GP Miguel Indurin. He had won the race four years in a row, but was beaten by a Frenchman the next day.He was unable to win the Lige–Bastogne–Lige race and finished 13th, making it the first time in four years that he did not win an Ardennes Classic race. He prepared for the Tour de France by winning the Route d'Occitanie stage race. The leader failed to threaten the podium after he made several long attacks in service of his teammates. The Vuelta a Espaa was where <mask> was supposed to work. He won stage 2 in an uphill sprint and stage 8 in a reduced bunch sprint. He was in a good position in the general classification and still had a chance of victory. He won the points classification for the fourth time, despite struggling in the last two stages in Andorra.He won the gold medal at the UCI Road World Championships. He triumphed in a small group sprint at the finish line ahead of Romain Bardet, Michael Woods and Tom Dumoulin, becoming the second oldest Road World Champion in history. He has been chasing a victory for 15 years. He finished second to Ion Izagirre in the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, his first major result of the year. He finished second to Luis Len Snchez at the Vuelta a Murcia. He won the sprint at the summit of stage 3 to take his first victory as World Champion. He finished the race in second place.He participated in the monument for the first time during the spring classics. He finished in the top eight. He had a difficult end to his spring campaign. During the race, he swallowed a bee and finished 11th. There was a crash in the lead up to Lige. He abandoned the event the first time he had not finished because he didn't know the severity of his injury. He won at the Route d'Occitanie after recovering from his injuries.He won the Spanish National Road Race Championships for the third time. He finished ninth in the Tour de France. At the Vuelta a Espaa, <mask> won stage 7 at Mas de la Costa. He finished the Vuelta in second place. At the World Championship road race in Yorkshire, run in very rainy conditions, <mask> abandoned his title defence. At the end of the season, he finished second to Bauke Mollema. The cyclist finished twenty-fourth in the Tour de France.Second place on stage 15 was his best result. He participated in the Men's individual road race in the 2020 Summer Olympics, his 5th participation in Olympic Games. The Operacin Puerto, a blood-doping affair which erupted in May 2006 against doctor Eufemiano Fuentes and a number of accomplices, has been linked by documentary and DNA evidence to <mask>. There were bags of blood and human blood, and code names that appeared to link top athletes, including up to 60 cyclists, to a highly organized system of drug use. The documents from Madrid's Court 31 linked <mask> to a single bag of human blood, which was seized in the investigation. The codes Valv, Piti and 18 were on the bag. The International Cycling Union banned <mask> from competing in the Road World Championships in 2007, but he was cleared by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to compete.The president of the World Anti-Doping Agency said that the CAS decision did not mean that <mask> was no longer a suspect. The Italian National Olympic Committee matched the samples from the rest day in Italy of the 2008 Tour de France to the samples from the Operacin Puerto investigation. At a February 2009, appearance in front of the Olympic Committee, <mask> maintained his innocence and questioned the Italians' jurisdiction over this case. The Italian Olympic Committee suspended him from competition in Italy for 2 years in May 2009, preventing him from competing in the Tour de France. The Spanish Cycling Federation decided not to open a case against <mask> despite the fact that he had filed an unsuccessful appeal against the Italian ban. On 31 May 2010 it was announced that the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the appeals from WADA and the UCI, but rejected the request that any results obtained by the athlete prior to the beginning of the suspension be nullified. <mask> returned to competition in 2012 after serving a two-year suspension.After a lengthy court battle, he was suspended for two years as part of the Operacin Puerto blood-doping investigation, but he returned to competition in 2012 after completing the ban. His results from 2010 were stripped, including the overall win in the 2010 Tour de Romandie, and he did not compete in 2011. There are External links to Caisse d'Epargne's Official Website.