gpelpel

Basso today admitted his involvement into the Puerto blood affair and agreed to fully cooperate with Italian authorities.
That sounds to be very big news as he is the first one to acknowledge there's some truth behind the scandal. I also saw that Valverde was added to the list during the weekend.

Gromit

https://www.velonews.com/news/fea/12213.0.html

really not much info yet.

bac

This is going to be yet another crazy year for cycling. Hold on to your hats boys, it's about to get really windy out.

... Brad

RockyMtnMerlin

That may be an understatement. We may have to hold on to more than our hats. If he does cooperate and even half of the speculation about other riders is true, it will be a house cleaning the likes of which we have not seen. The UCI, the racers' organization and the sponsors MUST do something to clean this up.

Gee3

Snipet: I also read that Valverde's blood bags came back positive for EPO but Basso's didn't. But even transfusions are illegal so...

Sucks because I wanted to really believe Basso was innocent.

dmotoguy

oh well.. basso's still young enough to have a few racing years after his ban. Too bad he didnt admit last year.

Grasschopper

Err yea but how long is the ban going to be for? Lifetime? There seems to be records of multiple doping violations so one could argue for a lifetime ban...

The real question is will he admit that his team was involved in the doping as well?

skinny

When asked if he doped, did he hang his head and mutter a barely audible, "Oui."?

Oops, sorry, I'm confused. Oui is French, so that was Virenque. In Italy, he would have hung his head and muttered a barely audible, "Si.".

[audible sigh]Another affair. Cycling has so many[/audible sigh].

cmh

What does it mean to admit to "involvement in the affair"? That isn't really the same as admitting he was doping. Maybe he is just admitting he used Fuentes as a Dr. for legal purposes, then lied about it to the investigators?

I just hope this all plays out quickly.

TheKillerPenguin

Bah.

Sidenote: Basso is rockin a great lookin suit.

skinny

Yea, his sister looks great too, but she's also a fake.

Bacciagalupe

My guess is, they will give him a 2 year ban in exchange for admitting guilt etc. That's basically what happened with Millar; they found him with a syringe and, presumably, enough proof to boot him permanently if they wanted.

I expect he will roll over on doctors and labs, rather than teams though.

TheKillerPenguin

she's nifty, but I bet her ta-tas feel like medicine balls

skinny

He is definitely limiting his losses now.

skinny

I like medicine balls.

Flynko

Can't wait for the next Simoni interview. He knows an E. T. when he sees one.

Nagedzi

So does Basso lose his Giro title? Definitely interesting if Heras, Basso and Landis all lose their respective grand tour titles...the saga continues. Valverde next on the chopping block with his ProTour title? Not to mention his wins in the Ardennes etc. last year.

dekalbSTEEL

from Comcast.net:


"The Italian cyclist's lawyer, Massimo Martelli, said his client spoke about "methods with which this activity was carried out."

Basso's name had turned up on a list of cyclists who allegedly had contact with a Spanish doctor accused of running a blood-doping clinic in Madrid.

Martelli said he could not disclose the exact contents of what Basso told the CONI prosecutor because the transcript was sealed.

"Basso said, 'The moment has come for me to assume my responsibilities. I only hope that I will be understood,'" Martelli said, adding the rider would "plan his future around the fight against doping."

Basso has been charged by CONI's doping commission with using or attempting to use a banned substance after sports authorities reopened an investigation into his alleged role in Operation Puerto.

The 29-year-old Italian will not be implicating other riders in the investigation, Martelli said.

"This kind of activity was carried out individually," Martelli said in a telephone interview. "He never saw or heard of other riders" being involved."

YEAH, RIGHT.

KramerTC

It gets better. Simoni should end up with the Giro 2006 title. The 2nd placed rider, Gutierrez, is also implicated in Puerto. Speaking of Gutierrez... talk about coming out of nowhere to place 2nd at the Giro.

obra3

Dubbayoo

He doesn't have to roll anybody or lifter a finger for a 2 year ban. It's his first offense - thats what is called for.

Snicklefritz

Ok, so if Basso gets a 2-year ban from cycling he can still model for Armani or whomever during that time and make big $$$$$.

GuitarWizard

Man....what are the races going to look like without PEDs.....pretty soon, they'll need triples and **** to get up the mountains in the 3rd week of the TdF since they'll be weak and can't recover.

Phil Ligget: "And here comes Jason Batten from Jelly Belly, a relatively unknown Cat 3 rider from the United States just a year ago, walking his bike up L'Alpe Duez..."

Paul Sherwin: "He's realllllllllly digging deep into his suitcase of courage on this one"

Bob Roll: "This was about my speed while climbing mountains in the Tour Day France"

Phil Ligget: "Wait! Here comes Tom Danielson, sprinting with his bike on his shoulder and shoes in his hand. I can't believe it...he is a beast of a man. I think he can pull off the sprint for the line!"

Bob Roll: "I see Tommy D riding by my house in all types of weather...sunshine, rain, sleet, snow....nothing stops this kid. He's one tough rider."

Paul Sherwin: "Just to remind our audience, since taking any kind of peformance enhancing drugs has been drastically cut out of the peloton, but yet the races have not changed at all, seeing these types of "sprint finishes" later on in the races has become the norm. Stay tuned for the wheelchair sprint on the Champs-Elysees on the last day of the race"

Phil Ligget: "Tom Danielson has won the stage! He juuuust clipped Batten at the line for the win; he is such a great climber, and The Team Formerly Known As Discovery reallllly saw the potential in this kid several years back.

Paul Sherwin: "That was a great race."

Devil

Big props to Basso for this. No, it was not right that he doped in the first place. But this is the honorable thing to do. He could've pulled an Ullrich or a Hamilton and denied, denied, denied... but he didn't.

FixdGearHead

So instead of denied, denied, denied...he just denied, denied.

Nothing honorable in what Basso did...nothing at all. It was either confess now or be worse off when he was found guilty. I believe if he felt he could get away with it...he wouldn't have resigned from Disco and he wouldn't now be telling the truth.