# Basso Admits and Cooperates!



## steve m (Oct 26, 2005)

I applaud Ivan Basso for being honest. It's refreshing.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/

When I was reading the news I felt sorry for him and admired him for not denying it (like everyone else has?). I wonder if others will now be motivated to do the same.


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## bikeboy389 (May 4, 2004)

steve m said:


> I applaud Ivan Basso for being honest. It's refreshing.
> 
> http://www.cyclingnews.com/
> 
> When I was reading the news I felt sorry for him and admired him for not denying it (like everyone else has?). I wonder if others will now be motivated to do the same.


Does belated, coerced honesty show the same integrity as plain-old up-front honesty? He denied everything for a year, then when it was clear he'd have to pony up a DNA sample, he finally copped to it.

I'm not saying this isn't an improvement over continuing to lie right through the DNA testing ala Ullrich, but let's not go overboard praising Basso's great integrity or honesty about all this.

I'd like to hope that his admission, belated though it definitely is, will somehow help things, but I don't know how it will, just yet.


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## alejovh1 (Mar 3, 2007)

agree with BB, never be proud of a doper!!!!
it makes you wonder who is actually riding clean doesn't it?????/


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## 32and3cross (Feb 28, 2005)

He'll only admitted it when is was clear he could not wriggle away and was going to be nailed straight up. And then it appears he is getting deal out of his "confession" something most of the other will not get. How much you wanna bet they won't have this offense stretch back to the Giro last year so he will get to keep his "win".

Gibo got it right.


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## Len J (Jan 28, 2004)

He's talking in order to get a shorter sentance.....nothing more than self preservation.

Is there anyone that challenged Lance in his 7 tour wins that hasn't been implicated/cought doping? He musta been superman to have ridden clean! :yikes: :wink5: :ciappa: ut: 

Len


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## Antonio_B (Dec 9, 2005)

Damn. When he backed out of his contract with Discovery, it was only a matter of time before he admitted to doping. 

Still, I feel for him.


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## bikeboy389 (May 4, 2004)

Antonio_B said:


> Damn. When he backed out of his contract with Discovery, it was only a matter of time before he admitted to doping.
> 
> Still, I feel for him.


Inasmuch as it's embarrassing for him and most likely means the end of his career (or so significant a hiccup that he's not likely to rise all the way to the top again), I guess I feel for him too.

But: Bed>>Made>>Laying in it. So I don't feel all THAT bad. He didn't have to do it. When implicated, he didn't have to lie about it. So many places he could have turned from the path that got him where he is.


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## lookrider (Dec 3, 2006)

Here he denies, stalls, stonewalls it..

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/apr07/apr27news


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## Guest (May 7, 2007)

This is better than having him win the tour and then 'admit' or be caught.


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## Run1stBike2nd (Oct 28, 2005)

Len J said:


> He's talking in order to get a shorter sentance.....nothing more than self preservation.
> 
> Is there anyone that challenged Lance in his 7 tour wins that hasn't been implicated/cought doping? He musta been superman to have ridden clean! :yikes: :wink5: :ciappa: ut:
> 
> Len


According to cyclingnews, his admission of involvement in _Puerto_ will not result in a reduced sentence. According to McQuaid (take that for what it's worth), the minimum sentence is two years regardless of whether or not there is an admission of guilt. 

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/may07/may07news3

I agree with what most are saying here. He broke the rules then tried as long as he could to beat the heat. Nothing admirable about that.


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## Len J (Jan 28, 2004)

*Posturing......*



Run1stBike2nd said:


> According to cyclingnews, his admission of involvement in _Puerto_ will not result in a reduced sentence. According to McQuaid (take that for what it's worth), the minimum sentence is two years regardless of whether or not there is an admission of guilt.
> 
> http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/may07/may07news3
> 
> I agree with what most are saying here. He broke the rules then tried as long as he could to beat the heat. Nothing admirable about that.


as Mark S found out in the attached post

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?p=1038740#poststop

his ban could be reduced....he's also attempting to reduce any criminal penalties since they apparently have him cold.

Len


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## Run1stBike2nd (Oct 28, 2005)

*Thanks for the insight*



Len J said:


> as Mark S found out in the attached post
> 
> http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?p=1038740#poststop
> 
> ...


Thanks for the insight. I should've gone to the Doping Forum earlier. I usually go there last after reading the other forums in here that attempt to discuss what's good in cycling.
Like I said in my earlier post, when McQuaid speaks, take it for what it's worth. Ha ha ha ha.


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## fabsroman (Jul 14, 2006)

These guys just make me sick.


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## CFBlue (Jun 28, 1999)

*The wheels of justice move slowly*

Maybe one day Gibo will be awarded he 3rd Giro (wonder if he's clean?) If he is clean you have to feel for him. Could've won so many Tours of taly but for bad luck, cheaters and back stabbing team mates(debatable).


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## slowdave (Nov 29, 2005)

How does this make cycling look. We have the biggest team in the U.S. signing up a man who was involved in a drug scadle (it was not proven at the time) Many said it was a move that was frought with danger ( to sign Basso) If i was a discovery boss id be more than happy to be getting out at the end of ther year. What now for the other riders implicated in the operation on DC roster, Davis etc. IMO Johan took a big gamble and it did not pay off. 
Basso should have been more honest with him, the sport, the fans and most of all to his family and himself. He has proven to be more honest than Hamilton etc but no more so than Millar. History will judge him rightly or wrongly as a potiential champ who cheated amd may have hammered in another nail. I hope the sponsers see through the drugs and take the sport for what it is.
dave


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## chuckice (Aug 25, 2004)

Please. He did what he needed to do to survive. You think it's coincidence that he did this BEFORE the Giro? He's going to cop a bargain that'll reduce his sentence so he can lineup for the 08 Giro.


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## pianopiano (Jun 4, 2005)

*I smell a rat.*



chuckice said:


> Please. He did what he needed to do to survive. You think it's coincidence that he did this BEFORE the Giro? He's going to cop a bargain that'll reduce his sentence so he can lineup for the 08 Giro.




This is even more disgusting than the cheating lying denial.


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## terzo rene (Mar 23, 2002)

lookrider said:


> Here he denies, stalls, stonewalls it..
> 
> http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/apr07/apr27news


How is "...everything would have been clarified and closed now, for good or bad" a denial? Saying "for good or bad" might as well be a confession. His attorney must have known he was about to fold before he said that or he would have slit his wrists at the case going down the drain with that quote.

You should go back and pull out all the Lance quotes where he flat out denied every taking EPO (or other PEDs) to see how a real pro does it.


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## CFBlue (Jun 28, 1999)

piano said:


> This is even more disgusting than the cheating lying denial.


Agree. There's one thing I hate more than a doper and that's a doper that thinks we're stupid. He's going along with investigators only as much as he has to, hoping that they don't know more than he's letting on. Millar lost his TT championship by doing the right thing(and rightfully so), I don't think Basso is keen on getting treated the same way.


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## Dwayne Barry (Feb 16, 2003)

hayaku said:


> Agree. There's one thing I hate more than a doper and that's a doper that thinks we're stupid.


Same old story, I had hoped this would shed some light on things but no. He's only admitted to what he had to and he's continueing to be a bald-faced liar about the rest. He's been paying Fuentes for several years, all in preparation for doping in last year's Tour? Absolutely ridiculous. And the managers continue to slid on thru without getting dirty. I'm sure he's well aware of other riders also.


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## Guest (May 8, 2007)

> Originally Posted by *hayaku*
> _Agree. There's one thing I hate more than a doper and that's a doper that thinks we're stupid._


+1 Argh!


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## chuckice (Aug 25, 2004)

Lying doper. Scum.


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## Run1stBike2nd (Oct 28, 2005)

You know what they say, "the cover-up is always worse than the crime."


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## CoLiKe20 (Jan 30, 2006)

chuckice said:


> Please. He did what he needed to do to survive. You think it's coincidence that he did this BEFORE the Giro? He's going to cop a bargain that'll reduce his sentence so he can lineup for the 08 Giro.


isn't it the 09 Giro?


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## CFBlue (Jun 28, 1999)

AJL said:


> +1 Argh!


+1 more from me! I always thought that scratching EVERY SINGLE RESULT that a convicted rider EVER achieved would be a good deterant. Even if you can't prove that the results were produced with the help of PED's, take their name out of the history books.

Basso can't honestly think we'll believe that after stomping all over the 06 Giro he was so insecure about his form to resort to doping for the Tour.

I had hoped way back when he became a good TT'er that it was the bike and aero improvements, but that was just being silly.


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## tubafreak (Apr 24, 2006)

I find it interesting that Scarponi has come forward. I think he's come to the same conclusion as Basso and would like to be back ASAP. He seems to be going a bit further than Basso, actually giving details on how everything happened, and seems to be doing it before he's backed tight into a corner. I suspect we'll see a bit more of this in the next week or so from a few other regular Giro riders.


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## EasyRider47 (Sep 18, 2005)

*Admission Equals No Admission? (He didn't inhale...?)*

Cycling News Flash for May 8, 2007
Edited by Laura Weislo

Basso: "It was only attempted doping" 

By Gregor Brown 

Ivan Basso refused to name names 
Photo ©: AFP 
"It was only attempted doping," said 29 year-old Ivan Basso to a conference room full of journalists and photographers in Milan's Hotel Michelangelo. The 2006 Giro d'Italia winner called the press conference following his admission of involvement in the Operación Puerto blood doping scandal.

Yesterday, after months of denial, the former Discovery Channel rider admitted that the bags of blood labeled 'Birillo', which were seized in the raid on Fuentes' clinic, belonged to him. After agreeing to cooperate with Italian Olympic Committee's (CONI) anti-doping prosecutors, Basso denied having ever actually used the blood.

"In my career I have never used doping products or resorted to blood transfusions," Basso claimed, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport. Basso, dressed in a light blue dress shirt and jeans, calmly denied using any doping products, although he refused to deny his involvement with Fuentes and the subsequent Operación Puerto.


Basso = A real class act (NOT!!!)....sort of like an admission which isn't really an admission....seems like I've been down this road before..."...but I didn't inhale..." In his clarification of his admission, he looks sleazier and guiltier than ever....does he really think anyone will believe him? 

Basso can't even make an honest admission of guilt! No wonder I (and several cycling buddies) have stopped buying Pro Cycling magazines (after 10 years of following cycling). I don't know whether I will ever watch the Giro or Tour again......


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## ttug (May 14, 2004)

*what??????*



steve m said:


> I applaud Ivan Basso for being honest. It's refreshing.
> 
> http://www.cyclingnews.com/
> 
> When I was reading the news I felt sorry for him and admired him for not denying it (like everyone else has?). I wonder if others will now be motivated to do the same.


He had no choice.

Why atre you applauding the efforts of a man under duress due to his cheating? Dont applaud the person who does the right thing. Its ridiculous. Its sad that in the sport today we say good job to the person who does the right thing when the right thing is what you should do.


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## chuckice (Aug 25, 2004)

ttug said:


> He had no choice.
> 
> Why atre you applauding the efforts of a man under duress due to his cheating? Dont applaud the person who does the right thing. Its ridiculous. Its sad that in the sport today we say good job to the person who does the right thing when the right thing is what you should do.


Coupled with the fact that he now says it was just pre-emptive doping...he didn't actually dope. Please...that deserves anti-applause.


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## ttug (May 14, 2004)

*Lmao*



chuckice said:


> Coupled with the fact that he now says it was just pre-emptive doping...he didn't actually dope. Please...that deserves anti-applause.


Good point.


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## tron (Jul 18, 2004)

[QUOTE
Basso can't honestly think we'll believe that after stomping all over the 06 Giro he was so insecure about his form to resort to doping for the Tour.
[/QUOTE]

Ha. That was my thought exactly. If he wants/wanted people to believe that he was not doping in last year's Giro he should have made it closer. He was the clear favorite for the Tour why dope at that point, if he hadnt before?


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## DMFT (Feb 3, 2005)

From what I've read, it does not sound like the 06' Giro will stay with him.
Between the recorded SMS's between those involved naming the code #'s according to how they finished the stages during the 06' Giro to the bank transactions prior too, it's 
just a matter of time I think.

- I think he deserves NO sympathy mainly because he's using the BS "I didn't inhale defense".  

We all make choices in life and Ivan made the wrong choice. It's sad but I don't feel sorry for him or any of the other cheaters.


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## Dan Gerous (Mar 28, 2005)

Some news, he doesn't want to talk no more according to Velonews, scared to end up in a ditch. He was apparently contacted by sponsors and sport directors who are urging him to shut up.


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## Dwayne Barry (Feb 16, 2003)

Dan Gerous said:


> scared to end up in a ditch.


The context of that is that his fellow riders would put him there during a race and they'd ostracize him. I don't understand I thought the dopers were the few bad apples amongst a predominantly clean sport  I'm sure if Armstrong was still riding he'd be urging Basso and Scarponi to tell all so we could clean up the sport, just like he did with Simeoni


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## DMFT (Feb 3, 2005)

*Uh oh Ivan......*

Now the Germans are interested in Ivan. They supposedly have some evidence that he was in a hotel room with Jan and Dr. Fuentes prior to the start of the 06' Giro.....

Sounds like that "title" may be slipping away...... 

- I still say that he needs to man-up, talk, and quit letting those 140 pound bully cyclists dictate what he say's.


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## terzo rene (Mar 23, 2002)

McQuaid should take note of the fact that Basso and Scarponi's cooperation suddenly ended when he made it clear there would be no reduced sentences. If he really wanted to have a hope of success he should have gone the other direction with amnesty and reduced sentences and really find out who else, not just riders, was involved.

After his pronouncements it's right back to the Omerta and nobody knows anything. Nice job. I don't agree with the clean sport zero tolerance goal but if that's what you want to try at least do it right and use your freaking head.


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## Dan Gerous (Mar 28, 2005)

I think Basso is more concerned about not dragging other riders down than McQuaid's comments... The Omerta seems more powerful than anything in the pro ranks.


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## Dwayne Barry (Feb 16, 2003)

Dan Gerous said:


> I think Basso is more concerned about not dragging other riders down than McQuaid's comments... The Omerta seems more powerful than anything in the pro ranks.


I agree but I also think McQuaid is trying to shut Basso, etc. up. The UCIs tactic has always been to ignore and minimize the extent of the doping problem. The last thing they want is someone spewing to the whole world how bad it is. The want the naive to remain naive. It is not in the UCIs interest to have riders talking when they get caught.


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## DMFT (Feb 3, 2005)

*Omerta, Oschmerta........*

- What a bunch of sissies.  

They don't seem to realize that GOVERNMENT(S) are involved in this deal, not just the little ol' UCI and WADA. They are messin' with people that I'm sure have their "way's" of finding things out.  

These knuckleheads have an oportunity to do the "right thing" for their beloved sport and be a part of cleaning up their mess. Besides, if they rat all the other cheaters out they will be suspended. Does anyone think the "clean" riders that will be left in the peloton will be pissed about having a better chance of getting a win????? Again, man-up, be a big boy and take your medicine......


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## Dan Gerous (Mar 28, 2005)

Maybe... Has anyone ever said anything apart from Manzano? You would think that of all the riders busted over the years, frustration and emotions would lead some to say the things as they really are.


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## HikenBike (Apr 3, 2007)

*He didn't admit to doping*

I read that he only admitted to prepare to dope, not doping itself. 

http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/12220.0.html

For me, his integrity is definitely in question.


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## Dwayne Barry (Feb 16, 2003)

Dan Gerous said:


> Maybe... Has anyone ever said anything apart from Manzano? You would think that of all the riders busted over the years, frustration and emotions would lead some to say the things as they really are.


Gaumont just fessed up in a trial in France (O'Grady was one of the dopers he fingered when they were together at Cofidis). Everybody just called him a liar, crazy, blah, blah...

You know, the same stuff they said about Manzano and we all know how wrong he turned out to be 

Others have come forward. There is Paul Kimmage's book, Erwin Mentheour wrote a book in the last few years but I'm pretty sure it is only available in French.


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## Dwayne Barry (Feb 16, 2003)

HikenBike said:


> For me, his integrity is definitely in question.


That sets a pretty good standard for the understatement of the year. At this point it is unimaginable he didn't dope, full-stop. No matter how much back-pedaling he does.

This is likely to end up in a couple court cases so lots of the details will end up becoming public especially if he doesn't recall that he already confessed and start cooperating again.


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