Valverde set to miss Tour after Italy ban

ROME: Spanish cyclist Alejandro Valverde, the world's top-ranked rider last year, is poised to miss July's Tour de France after he was banned from racing in Italy for two years by an Italian anti-doping tribunal on Monday.

The 16th stage of the Tour passes through Italy on July 21.

Italy's Olympic Committee (CONI) said blood samples Valverde gave at a doping control when last year's Tour entered Italy for a stage matched DNA from code-named bags of blood discovered in Spain's Operacion Puerto investigation, launched in 2006.