Alejandro Valverde, Spain men’s road team check into Swiss hotel to avoid Italian doping raids

Valverde stays in Swiss hotel, avoids Italian raid

MENDRISIO, Switzerland — Alejandro Valverde and his Spanish road race teammates have checked into a Swiss hotel, avoiding possible raids by Italian authorities during the cycling world championships.

The Spanish cycling federation said Thursday that its elite men’s team was now staying at the five-star Eden hotel on the banks of Lake Lugano to prepare for its gold medal race Sunday.

The rest of Spain’s worlds team is staying nearby across the border in Italy, where Valverde is the subject of a doping investigation.

The 29-year-old rider is currently banned from competing in Italy until May 2011 by the national Olympic committee (CONI), though he is allowed to train and stay there.

Valverde is challenging the ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which expects to hear the case in October.

CONI believes a blood sample given by Valverde in Italy last year matches DNA from evidence seized in 2006 during the Operation Puerto investigation into an alleged blood-doping ring centered in Madrid.

Valverde argues that the Olympic body has no jurisdiction to rule on his case, or use evidence from Spain.

After winning the classic Spanish Vuelta stage race last Sunday, Valverde will chase a fourth worlds medal Sunday. He has two silvers and a bronze since 2003.

Spain’s nine-man road race team includes Olympic champion Samuel Sanchez and Oscar Freire, who is seeking a record fourth world title.