Basso May Ride Again as Italy Recommends Doping Case Be Dropped
2006-10-12 13:36 (New York)
By James Ludden
Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Tour of Italy champion Ivan Basso,
one of several top cyclists implicated in a blood-doping
scandal, may be free to return to racing after the country's
Olympic committee recommended dropping charges against him.
The anti-doping office of CONI, as the Olympic body is
known, said Basso, 29, had no legal case to answer and proposed
to the sports court of the Italian cycling federation that the
item be shelved.
``The case would be reopened if there were other elements
of proof that would justify it,'' Rome-based CONI said in a
statement on its Web site today.
Basso was implicated in Spain's Operacion Puerto, in which
58 riders are being investigated following a police raid in
Madrid that uncovered 200 bags of athletes' blood and pages of
notes about drug-taking. The Spanish courts don't want documents
giving the riders' identity to be used in other probes by
national federations. Basso denies wrongdoing.
``It's good news but I still don't know if I'll be able to
race the Tour of Lombardy on Sunday,'' Basso was quoted as
saying by Italian news agency Ansa.
Basso hasn't raced since his CSC team withdrew him on the
eve of this year's Tour de France because of the doping
investigation.
Tour de France champion Floyd Landis failed a drugs test
at this year's race and today protested his innocence in an
online document that alleged testing irregularities and
procedural inconsistencies.
[censored] Pound, president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, and
Pat McQuaid, chairman of cycling's ruling body, have backed the
procedures used to analyze Landis's urine samples.
--With reporting by Dan Liefgreen in Milan. Editor: Hegarty
Story illustration: click on {NI CYCLING BSP <GO>} for cycling
news. Hit {ISPO<GO>} for top international sports news.
To contact the reporter on this story:
James Ludden in London at (44)(20) 7673 2645 or
[email hidden]
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
James Ludden in London at (44)(20) 7673 2645 or
[email hidden]
[TAGINFO]
NI ITALY
NI US
NI CYCLING
NI TDF
NI DRG
