updated 12:36 p.m. ET Jan. 17, 2008

ROME - Tour de France champion Alberto Contador could be barred from defending his title and Alejandro Valverde might also be banned from the year’s top cycling races if the Italian Olympic Committee has its way.

Besides the Giro d’Italia, a small part of this year’s Tour de France passes through Italy and the country is also hosting the 2008 world championships in Varese.

CONI has reopened its inquiry into the Operation Puerto doping scandal and is seeking to bar any riders involved from racing in Italy.

“After prosecuting and sanctioning Italian athletes, we have turned our focus to the two (Spanish) doctors (Eufemiano) Fuentes and (Merino) Batres, and about 50 foreign athletes that we know frequented their medical practices and probably used banned substances,” CONI’s chief anti-doping prosecutor Ettore Torri said Monday in an interview with RAI state TV.

Contador and Valverde have denied involvement in Operation Puerto.

“We need to obtain documentation from Spanish judicial authorities and then we will hold hearings with the these athletes and other people labeled as witnesses,” Torri said.

Using new rules that allows it to investigate athletes and sports officials who are not licensed in Italy, Torri said he plans to “ban anyone who broke the rules from practicing sports in Italy.”

“It’s really unfair that our athletes were (punished) and can’t participate while other well-known athletes — Spanish and of other nationalities — like Contador and Valverde, remain fully active and even participated in the world championships,” Torri added. “We stopped (Giro d’Italia champion Danilo) Di Luca on the eve of the worlds, and it was a decision we really struggled with but the right one.”

In June, CONI banned 2006 Giro winner Ivan Basso for two years after he acknowledged involvement in Operation Puerto. Other big-name cyclists allegedly involved, like Contador and Valverde, have gone unpunished.

The Spanish cycling federation has been criticized for displaying favoritism toward its riders following the scandal, in which five people were arrested and more than 50 cyclists implicated, including 1997 Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich.

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