During his doping suspension, Alex received an offer from the Spanish team Banesto, which he accepted with the words, "I'm happy to be able to ride with another Spanish team again". Team manager Echavarri took him on especially to make up for the loss of Abraham Olano and to have another Tour de France winner after Miguel Indurain. Because of his 6-month suspension, Alex couldn't officially race again until May 1999. To keep himself in shape, he became a "race simiulant" -- that is, he rode the same route an hour before the race officially started, thus allowing him to train in race-like conditions. He was enthusiastically greeted by his countrymen at his first appearance in Switzerland, and his good performance in the Tour de France won him back a lot of sympathy.

Alex was supposed to concentrate on the TdF again in 2000. As preparation he rode a very cautious program, with no serious tests for his skills. His first real test in the Daphine Libere was a success. On a stage that ended on Mt.Ventoux, he left Lance Armstrong behind him and finished second behind Tyler Hamilton.

But the Tour didn't work out as planned. For the first time since 1995 the Tour included a team time trial, in which Banesto lost many valuable minutes to the winner Once. Alex's chances for a Tour victory were drastically reduced by the lack of training for this discipline and by incomprehenisble decisions by the team managers. It got worse, though. Weakened by a gum and sinus infection, he lost more time in the mountains. His team was no help to him either -- the team tactics were often unfathomable and his teammates openly worked against their captain. Alex dropped out of the race shortly before its end, took some time off and came back with amibitions in the Vuelta. After two years without a leader's jersey, he won the golden jersey with a prologue win. He was able to hold on to it for eight days, before breaking down in the first time trial and giving up his lead. Although neither he nor his team played an important role in the rest of the Vuelta, he was not allowed to leave the race in order to prepare for the upcoming Olympic games in Sydney.