Valverde says no summons received

Caisse d'Epargne's Alejandro Valverde denied any notification of a summons from the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) to appear in Rome regarding alleged ties to the 2006 doping investigation Operación Puerto.

Valverde, now participating in the Challenge de Mallorca, issued a statement addressing what he described as "reports in the Italian media", though, in fact, CONI had also published notice of the summons on its website.

"I can assure you that neither I nor my team has received any notification to appear before the CONI or any other organization," said Valverde. "I reiterate my complete willingness to appear before any organization which requests my presence to collaborate with the aim of clearing up everything connected to doping."

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He expressed surprise and indignation with regard to the alleged causes of his summons and emphasized that any testing from the controls taken in the Prato Nevoso stage of the 2008 Tour de France did not produce abnormal values.

"In the hypothetical and unacceptable case in which the controls to which I was subjected during the Tour [de France] would be used as a basis for charges derived from evidence existing within the framework of the Operación Puerto, I can only repeat one more time that I have said many times that I was ready to let my blood values be compared with the evidence ... provided that the competent authorities request me to do so.

"All who insinuate directly or indirectly my participation in any illicit affair without proof are harming my image and those of my team and its sponsors," said Valverde, who threatened "appropriate legal proceedings" in response.