The Green Bullet: The rise, fall and resurrection of Alejandro Valverde and Spanish cycling’s corruption

New from award-winning author Matt Rendell, an examination of the phenomenal success of Alejandro Valverde and the moral decay at the heart of Spanish cycling.

Alejandro Valverde - the 'Green Bullet' - was an international symbol of Spanish cycling for a quarter of a century before his retirement in 2022. Hard-working and supremely talented, he won the Vuelta a Espana and stood on the podium of the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France.

World champion in 2018, he was also the world's number-one-ranked rider four times. A man of indisputable charisma, he was also a convicted doping cheat. When the Spanish police investigation, Operacion Puerto, uncovered a vast international blood doping ring, Valverde denied all involvement. The revelations unearthed by Operacion Puerto threatened to force cycling off the road.

Valverde's long career was a high wire walk between the venal interests that surround elite sport in Spain. In a nation beset by corruption, political incompetence and social division, Valverde's talent aided the public image of unscrupulous political and economic institutions.