Apr 26, 2007
Basso Questions CONI’s Timing
Ivan Basso is angry about the timing of the recent reports about the opening of the CONI investigation. In fact the timing is questionable since we are two weeks away from the start of the Giro D’Italia and in the Spring Classics season. Basso was to make an appearance at Fleche Wallone on Wednesday and Liege bastonge Liege on Sunday.
Investigators from CONI did say that the Spanish Guardia Civil contacted them in November and December with more information and samples from the bags of blood that allegedly belonged to Basso. The investigation was ongoing but in private. Perhaps CONI was in a Discovery phase of gathering evidence to put together a solid case against Basso, but the timing suspect. CONI has had a bad reputation of pooping on the Giro in order to get the maximum publicity from drug seizures, raids and tests. So for Basso to question the timing of the latest episode of Operation Puerto is not out of the question.
This is why signing Basso was such a huge risk. All of the investigations seem to have some sort of associated agenda Whether is is an Italian prosecutor trying to time raids with some of the biggest stages of the Giro, or a French lab releasing drug test results to L’Equipe before actually notifying the offending cyclist. The system is tragically broken.
This is what Basso had to say about the current situation.
“I’m not going to give up, I’m going to carry on. I’m strong-minded,” he was quoted as saying in Thursday’s edition of the Milan-based newspaper Il Giornale.
“However, I feel really frustrated. If these latest events had emerged in December or January, everything would have been clarified and closed now, for good or bad.
“Instead, new documents have suddenly arrived two weeks before the start of the race (the Giro d’Italia). First they let me train like a donkey and then say ‘Sorry, please stop and explain’. That’s a time-bomb form of justice.”
Basso was suspended by his Discovery Channel team on Tuesday after the reopening of the investigation into his implication in Operacion Puerto, a Spanish police probe into blood doping by a group of doctors in Madrid.
Basso, who has been summoned to appear before investigators in Rome next month, also said he would accept a DNA test.
“I’ll be there on May 2 to understand what new things I’m facing. My DNA? I’ve already given my permission to everybody, my team and even to the anti-doping investigators,” Basso told Il Giornale.
Quotes from Yahoo! News