Australian cyclist Cadel Evans has added the world No.1 ranking to his world road title after Spaniard Alejandro Valverde copped a global two-year doping ban.

The ban came as the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Monday ruled in favour of the International Cycling Union and World Anti-Doping Agency, which wanted Valverde sanctioned for suspected doping revealed in a 2006 Spanish scandal known as Operation Puerto.

The verdict came hours after the 30-year-old Valverde retained his top spot in the UCI's world rankings.

The UCI said it would immediately modify the rankings, placing Evans at No.1.

The court said its panel of three arbitrators decided by a 2-1 majority that Valverde broke anti-doping rules four years ago. He cannot compete until January 2012 and his results from this year will be stripped.

But the court refused to annul Valverde's results from recent seasons, including his Tour of Spain win last year, where Evans finished third overall. Valverde will be disqualified from all events this season and asked to reimburse his prize money, the UCI said.

Those results include victory in the Tour de Romandie and second place in the Paris-Nice stage race. The ban was backdated to January 1, 2010, meaning Valverde will be free to ride competitively again from December 31, 2011, meaning he would be able to compete at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Valverde, the recent winner of the Tour of Romandie in Switzerland and one of the most feared racers in hilly one-day classics and one-week stage races, has been banned from racing in Italy since May 2009.

The Italian authorities took a blood sample from the Spaniard at the 2008 Tour de France when it passed through the country, and it matched one of the blood bags containing the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin) from the 2006 Puerto raid.

"The CAS has partially upheld the appeals filed by the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) against the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) and the Spanish cyclist Alejandro Valverde," CAS said in a statement.

"Accordingly, the CAS has imposed a two-year ban on Alejandro Valverde starting on January 1, 2010 but has denied the request of the UCI and WADA that results obtained by the athlete prior to the beginning of the suspension be annulled."

Valverde said he would immediately appeal the "totally unjust and illegal" ban at the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland. His team added that he was "probably the most controlled sportsman in the world and that he never tested positive in a doping control".

CAS, however, found that the scientific evidence, "blood bag number 18, scientific evidence that such blood contained EPO, DNA evidence that clearly demonstrated that blood bag number 18 contained Mr Valverde's blood, was sufficient to conclude that Mr Valverde committed an anti-doping rule violation".

UCI expressed its satisfaction with the ruling, saying the decision it took along with the WADA to pursue Valverde and the Spanish federation had been validated.

But it added that the damage Valverde had caused the UCI and cycling as a whole could not be totally compensated by the ruling, which the body accepted "with relief".

"The UCI and cycling as a whole have certainly suffered greatly from this affair," UCI said. CAS said Valverde's case had arisen after an initial Spanish criminal investigation in 2004.

AFP