Alejandro Valverde is determined to make up for lost time and will begin racing as soon as possible in 2012. The Team Movistar rider has come back from a long ban and will return to competition at the Santos Tour Down Under, which takes place in and around Adelaide.
Dutch site Wielerland has reported that the Spaniard will recommence racing on January 17th, which marks the opening stage of the WorldTour event. However it seems possible that he could also line out in the Down Under Classic, which takes place two days earlier.
Valverde previously competed in the Australian stage race in 2010. He finished second on stage three to Stirling, third at Willunga and nineteenth overall. However these and his other results of the season were struck off by CAS on May 31st 2010, which sided with the UCI and WADA in their appeal.
The two bodies were fighting the refusal of the Spanish federation RFEC to sanction the rider over his part in Operacion Puerto.
Valverde has been working hard during his suspension. In October he told Diario Siglo XX1 that he was pleased with what he had done. “I have trained very well, I've done many kilometres…I've done about 10,000 kilometres, which is enough to train,” he said then. “The level of effort has certainly not been the same as when you race, but I tried to simulate racing with hard training.
“I know what I notice it [the jump in effort] when I get back, but I hope it’ll be for the shortest time possible.”
He took a break from training in September, then knuckled down again and has racked up many more hours in the saddle since that interview.
Familiar surroundings:
On November 11th the Movistar team confirmed that he had signed for the squad, returning to the structure previously known as Caisse d’Epargne.
That signature was widely anticipated, given that Valverde had trained with the team on numerous occasions, including at the 2011 pre-season camp in Majorca.
He won the 2009 Vuelta while part of the lineup, as well as the UCI ProTour in 2006 and 2008, Liège-Bastogne-Liège in the same years, two editions of the Critérium de Dauphiné Libéré, plus Flèche Wallonne, the Clasica San Sebastián and the Volta a Catalunya.
He has also picked up numerous stages in multi-day races, including the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España.
The Puerto allegations put a question mark over at least some of those results, but CAS decided not to strike off anything prior to January 2010.
Movistar had originally intended to present Valverde to the media on November 15th but with less than 24 hours remaining prior to that function, cancelled it. It stated that the UCI had threatened disciplinary action. Article 320 of the UCI anti-doping regulations blocks riders under suspension from taking part in team events.
Instead, both he and new Movistar signing will be presented next Wednesday, where the 2012 team jersey will be revealed.
According to Wielerland, his goals in 2012 will be the Amstel Gold Race, Fleche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège Classics, the London Olympics and the World Championships in Valkenburg.
It doesn’t mention the Tour de France but it is expected that Valverde will also lead the team there.