ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — Spanish cyclist Alejandro Valverde will make his comeback from a two-year doping ban at this month’s Tour Down Under, the opening event of cycling’s 2012 ProTour.
Valverde was stripped of his No. 1 world ranking and banned for two years from January 2010 after being implicated in Operation Puerto, a blood-doping ring involving more than 50 riders.
While he never tested positive for a banned drug, Valverde was reportedly linked to the doping ring by DNA evidence seized in police raids on the Madrid clinic of sports physician Eufemiano Fuentes.
Cycling’s governing body and the World Anti-Doping Agency successfully applied to the Court of Arbitration of Sport for sanctions to be imposed on Valverde.
