Spanish cyclist Alejandro Valverde has lost his final appeal to Switzerland’s Supreme Court to overturn a doping suspension.
The Swiss Federal Tribunal says it dismissed Valverde’s challenge to a Court of Arbitration for Sport decision which banned the 2009 Spanish Vuelta winner until January 2012.
The CAS ruled last May in favour of the International Cycling Union and World Anti-Doping Agency.
They wanted Valverde banned worldwide after he’d been excluded from racing in Italy.
The cases cantered on Italian authorities being allowed to use evidence seized in Spain during the Operation Puerto investigation.
Federal judges upheld that right in a previous ruling against Valverde.
