Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/Getty Images
Ivan Basso looked like he redeemed himself yesterday with the honest admission of working with Dr. Fuentes and admitting that he is “Birillo”. But Basso has a career and palmares to think about. The Giro victory was a major milestone that was ripe to be taken away now that Basso admitted to doping. [...]

Photo credit should read DOUG PENSINGER/AFP/Getty Images
Well that did not last long. Ivan Basso announced that he is leaving the Discovery Channel team. Basso asked out of his two year contract in order to avoid being a distraction to the team as they try to find a new sponsor. Basso wants to make it known [...]

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 [...]

The Operation Puerto case against Ivan Basso was suspended back in October due to a lack of evidence. The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) did not have substantial evidence to prosecute Ivan Basso, so they suspended the case with the caveat that it could be reopened if new evidence arises in the future. It is not [...]

Discovery Channel must have seen this coming when they decided to sign Basso. Christian Prudhomme is cracking down on the Operation Puerto people, 50 in all. Armed with the news of Jan Ullrich’s positive DNA match with the Operation Puerto blood bags and news that Fuentes is back to his old ways, the [...]

With all of the sound and fury signifying nothing. That is a good way to summarize Operation Puerto which come Monday will be archived. The investigation failed to turn out any solid evidence against anyone that was remotely associated with the case.
Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich, Fransico Mancebo were barred from the Tour de France [...]

(pic from Flickr)
The second edition of the Tour of California is in the record books with another win by a hometown racer. Levi Leipheimer took the reigns over from Floyd Landis as the next Tour of California champ. The race proved very popular with fans though it did not break the record of most attended [...]

Ivan Basso was interviewed by SkyLife.it where he was asked about the current problem in Italian Soccer, Marco Pantani, the USA and his objectives for 2007. The interview is quite frank both the the interviewer’s side and Basso’ side. This is really a refreshing let’s not beat around the bush type of interview. Unfortunately Basso [...]

(pic from thepaceline.com)
A change in the top level management at Discovery Channel has resulted in a loss of sponsorship for the cycling team at the end of 2007.
Armstrong’s agent spoke to USA Today to relay the news that was released on the Friday which is when most high profile people like to dump bad [...]