Cruxpearl Posted April 24, 2007 Share Italian cyclist Ivan Basso is set to face further investigations, including DNA testing, regarding his involvement in Operaci?n Puerto. Last October the Italian cycling federation (FCI) investigation against him was shelved on the direction of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), and he was freed to sign with Discovery Channel. However, Spanish weekly magazine Intervi? has published further papers detailing the 29 year-old's relation with Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes.Tuesday morning, La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that there is interest from a Procura italiana (Italian public prosecutor, likely Bergamo anti-doping lawyer Cristina Rota) to have the bags of blood labelled 'Birillo' (allegedly Basso's dog's name) and with the number 2 brought from Madrid to Italy. It states that this transfer, like what was done in Jan Ullrich's case, could happen sometime in the coming week, where the prosecutor could then ask for a DNA sample from Basso.Subsequently, CONI announced on its website that it was reopening investigations, signifying a change of its stance on the issue. It has summoned Basso to its headquarters in Rome at 15.00 on May 2. This morning Ivan Basso was slated to arrive in Charleroi, Belgium for the start of the Fl?che Wallonne (Wednesday) and the Li?ge-Bastogne-Li?ge, but according to Belgian's HLN, Basso, under increasing pressure, will not start. (He faced similar pressure from his former team, CSC, at the end of 2006 when he missed out on the Giro di Lombardia.)Intervi? detailed previously unpublished papers connecting Basso with Fuentes. This article contained what it said was circumstantial evidence implicating the rider, including: 1) An agenda with a schedule of blood extractions and transfusions since 2004. In the agenda the pseudonyms 'Birillo' and '2' are used. 2) Payments in 2004 of around ?35,000 and another ?6000 for the freezing the blood (or "gastos de Siberia"), and an advance payment of ?70,000 in 2006 'to be defined individually'; there was also a message received from Fuentes in Italian which talks of a Zurich bank account. 3) The analyses of blood, which could have been done in November 2005 in Madrid, with haematologist Merino Batres, a collaborator of Fuentes. The Spanish Guardia Civil suspect that the cyclist visited Madrid at least three times but he has always denied being there.Further, the weekly magazine noted telephone recordings collected by the Guardia Civil, one that said 'Birillo had arrived with Simoni at sixteen seconds', This would seem to refer to Giro d'Italia stage seven, won by Rik Verbrugghe, where Basso finished 16 seconds back with Gilberto Simoni, Davide Rebellin and Serguei Gonchar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AfreekduSoet Posted April 25, 2007 Share Just a few words out the article.... shelved, likely, could happen, there is interest, contained what it said was, could have And we want to burn him?!?!? we have no evidence, only perceptions. Not saying his not guilty, but don't let the media decide!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Napalm Posted April 25, 2007 Share http://www.ideagrove.com/blog/uploaded_images/monty_python_witch-701441.jpg Burn the witch !!! Napalm2007-04-25 01:15:51 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AfreekduSoet Posted April 25, 2007 Share Exactly, do you have more pics of TCS meetings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windbreaker Posted April 25, 2007 Share http://www.ideagrove.com/blog/uploaded_images/monty_python_witch-701441.jpg Burn the witch !!! Didn't realise that we were talking about Engela Conradie here. Is that Crux in the background??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest colonel Posted April 25, 2007 Share The same could be said for Ullrich then Afreekdusoet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epoh Posted April 25, 2007 Share I personally don't think Basso is guilty. The evidence they have against him are pretty lame at this point. I also did not think Ullrich was guilty and some people would argue he is still not guilty cuz they only found blood so what ? But Ullrich denied he even knew Fuentes and now they found a positive DNA match from Fuentes's labs...enough for me to loose all the respect I ever had for him and dont want to know anything further about him anymore. In Basso's case I would like to see him give his DNA and them match it with the blood bags. If there is a positive match I will feel the same about Basso as I feel about Ullrich now. The fact that they are pulling out people that are potentially involved in the Puerto scandal is a good thing. I like the no tolerance attitude, it sends out a strong message. But at the end of the day the riders who are implicated but are not guilty suffers the most. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AfreekduSoet Posted April 25, 2007 Share If Ullrich hasn't been found guilty by any process, then is he? Just think they should be given their day in court but lets not pull out the fire lighters before then. As I said on another post, Vino missed out on Tdf last year and quite a few others, yet this has still not been resolved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snah2 Posted April 25, 2007 Share I think his dog is guilty...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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