Tadej Valjavec

Tadej Valjavec (born 13 April 1977 in Kranj) is a Slovenian former professional road bicycle racer, who last competed for the Sava team. He is well known as a good climber due to his rides on mountain stages in the Giro d'Italia. Although he has achieved relatively few professional wins in his career, he has consistently performed well in the Grand Tours, with three top ten and four further top 20 finishes.

Doping On 4 May 2010 Valjavec's name was released as being one of several riders under investigation by the UCI for "irregular blood values". He was provisionally suspended by Ag2r-La Mondiale and pulled from their squad for the impending Giro d'Italia. Team manager Vincent Lavenu stated that should the Slovenian cycling federation sanction him, he would be fired. Valjavec has proclaimed his innocence and claimed an unreported illness is responsible for the values. On 30 July the Slovenian federation officially cleared Valjavec, criticizing the usage of the biological passport in this case stating that it failed to take into account the possible natural reasons for Valjavec's irregular levels. The UCI will likely appeal the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

On 22 April 2011 The Court of Arbitration for Sport set aside the decision to exonerate the athlete from any doping offense and imposed a two-year ban on him starting on 20 January 2011, as well as the disqualification of all his results obtained between 19 April and 30 September 2009.

Career achievements Major results

1994 1st Overall Giro di Basilicata 8th Road race, UCI Junior Road World Championships 1995 1st Overall Giro di Basilicata 1998 3rd GP Kranj 1999 1st Overall Giro Ciclistico d'Italia 2nd Overall Tour de Slovénie 2000 3rd Overall Grand Prix du Midi Libre 4th Trofeo Laigueglia 7th Tour du Haut Var 2001 5th Road race, National Road Championships 7th GP Industria & Commercio di Prato 8th Tre Valli Varesine 2002 1st Overall Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda 6th Overall Giro del Trentino 7th Giro dell'Appennino 10th Overall Tour de Suisse 2003

3rd Giro di Toscana 5th Overall Tour de Suisse 6th Giro dell'Appennino 10th Overall Tour of Belgium 10th Trofeo Matteotti 2004 4th Overall Tour de Romandie 9th Overall Giro d'Italia 2005 6th Overall Deutschland Tour 9th Overall Tour de Suisse 10th Overall Tour de Romandie 2006 8th Overall Tour of Slovenia 10th Trofeo Melinda 2007

2nd Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 3rd Overall Vuelta a Andalucía 4th Overall Paris–Nice 7th Overall Tour of the Basque Country 9th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré 10th La Flèche Wallonne 2008 10th Overall Tour de France 2009

7th Overall Tour de Suisse 9th Overall Giro d'Italia

2010 9th GP Lugano 9th Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato 2010 8th Gran Premio dell'Insubria-Lugano 9th GP Industria & Commercio di Prato 2011 2nd Overall Cinturón Ciclista Internacional a Mallorca 2013 4th Overall Tour of Slovenia 5th Overall Istrian Spring Trophy 8th Overall Tour de Slovaquie 10th GP Kranj

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish