Tadej Valjavec

Tadej Valjavec
	Valjavec at the 2007 Tour de France
Personal information
Full name	Tadej Valjavec
Born	13 April 1977 (age 47); Kranj, Yugoslavia
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	59 kg (130 lb)
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Climbing specialist
Amateur teams
1994–1999	Sava Kranj
1999	Cucine Caneva Record
2018	KK Kranj
Professional teams
2000–2003	Fassa Bortolo
2004–2005	Phonak
2006–2007	Lampre–Fondital
2008–2010	Ag2r–La Mondiale
2011	Manisaspor
2013	Sava
Major wins
	National Road Race Championships (2003, 2007)

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".^[1] 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.^[2] Valjavec has proclaimed his innocence and claimed an unreported illness is responsible for the values.^[3] 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.^[4]

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.^[5]

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: 1st Road race, National Road Championships; 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: 1st Road race, National Road Championships; 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

Voided results between 19 April and 30 September 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

Grand Tour	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Giro d'Italia	30	—	—	9	15	34	—	13	9
Tour de France	—	—	—	—	—	17	19	9	—
Vuelta a España	—	18	—	26	—	—	—	—	30

Legend
—	Did not compete
DNF	Did not finish

References

^ "UCI Confirm Valjavec investigation". Uci.ch. Archived from the original on 2012-03-05. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
^ "Ag2r team manager furious with Valjavec". Cyclingnews.com. 2010-05-03. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
^ "Valijavec Claims Innocence". Cyclingnews.com. 4 May 2010. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
^ "Valjavec cleared by Slovenian anti-doping agency". Cyclingnews.com. 2010-07-30. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
^ [1] Archived April 30, 2011, at the Wayback Machine

External links

Tadej Valjavec at trap-friis.dk

[1] "UCI Confirm Valjavec investigation". Uci.ch. Archived from the original on 2012-03-05. Retrieved 2015-03-09.

[2] "Ag2r team manager furious with Valjavec". Cyclingnews.com. 2010-05-03. Retrieved 2015-03-09.

[3] "Valijavec Claims Innocence". Cyclingnews.com. 4 May 2010. Retrieved 2015-03-09.

[4] "Valjavec cleared by Slovenian anti-doping agency". Cyclingnews.com. 2010-07-30. Retrieved 2015-03-09.

[5] [1] Archived April 30, 2011, at the Wayback Machine

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