Caisse d'Epargne to pull sponsors

Caisse d'Epargne will not renew their sponsorship deal with the ProTour team led by Vuelta a Espana champion Alejandro Valverde when it expires at the end of the season, hinting at the team's doping links, the French bank's parent company BPCE said.

BPCE CEO Francois Perol was quoted by French radio on Friday as saying Caisse d'Epargne would focus on Olympic sponsorship as it shares the same "values" as the bank.

"There will be a Caisse d'Epargne team competing in this year's Tour de France but the deal will come to an end in 2010 and it won't be extended," Perol told Radio Classique.

Caisse d'Epargne have sponsored the cycling team since 2005. The bank will now support French athletes competing in next month's Winter Olympics and in the 2012 Games in London.

"We became the banking sponsors of the French Olympic committee at the very beginning of the year and we will support France teams in Vancouver and in London and we will also support Annecy's bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics," Perol said.

"This decision was taken on managing grounds as we feel we share the same values as those championed by the Olympic movement," he added.

Team leader Valverde (pictured) has been barred from competing in Italy since May for alleged links to the Operation Puerto anti-doping investigation.

CONI have said that blood samples Valverde gave at a doping control when the 2008 Tour de France entered Italy for a stage matched DNA from code-named bags of blood discovered in Operation Puerto.

The Spaniard has always stated his innocence.

Reuters

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