La Gazzetta dello Sport has provided additional information about Basso’s alleged links to Eufemiano Fuentes (thanks to zarathustra on the DP Forums for helping with the translation from Italian - any errors are mine, though).

In a conversation between Fuentes and Labarta, taped on the evening of May 14 - just hours after Basso’s stage victory on the Passo Lanciano - Fuentes and Labarta apparently discuss the result of the race, and Fuentes says in a mischevous tone”A strange rider won: Basso, Ivan Basso.” Labarta replies knowingly: “A certain Ivan Basso”.

According to La Gazzetta, Labarta later seems to be complementing Fuentes as he observes that Basso and another alleged client, José Enrique Gutierrez, occupy first and second place on general classification.

Labarta: “Good, my boy, a certain Basso and a certain Guti are first and second.”
Fuentes: “My goodness”.
Labarta: “You have first and second”.

After stage 7, they also discuss the rider Birillo.

Labarta calls Fuentes to talk about the results and outlines the great performance of the “Bufalo” who finished 4th.
Labarta then gives more informations to Fuentes about the results: “Savoldelli, yes, and then after 16 seconds arrived Birillo with Simoni, at 20 seconds Zapatero, at 24 seconds Uno. All very well. I want to say that all of those riders which are interesting for you (….) are in the race and have done well.”

[Zapatero > alleged to be Scarponi, Uno > alleged to be Unai Osa.]

The result of stage 7:
1 VERBRUGGHE Rik
2 SAVOLDELLI Paolo 0:14
3 MAZZANTI Luca 0:14
4 GUTIERREZ CATALUNA José E. 0:14
5 REBELLIN Davide 0:16
6 BASSO Ivan 0:16
7 HONCHAR Serhiy 0:16
8 SIMONI Gilberto 0:16
9 LEFEVRE Laurent 0:20
10 SCARPONI Michele 0:20

Only Rebellin, Honchar arrived with Basso and Simoni 16 seconds down. Somehow (not described in La Gazzetta) the investigator excluded that Rebellin and Honchar are implicated and came to the conclusion that only Basso can be Birillo.

Birillo also appears on another handwritten note taken from Fuentes and referring to testosterone patches, blood plasma, the female hormone treatment gonadotropine, and also the code for a Swiss bank account.

As always, it should be noted that these are reports from the press, and none of this information has yet been confirmed by the authorities.

It is increasingly beginning to look as if Ivan Basso’s career may end up being held hostage by Operation Puerto.

Basso will not be allowed to prove his innocence, the public prosecutor Manuel Moix in the case of Operation Puerto made clear monday. The Spanish courts do not intend to start a criminal case against Basso, because doping is not illegal in Spain.

But in refusing to start proceedings against Basso, the Spanish authorities are also denying access to the details of the case to Basso and the other riders excluded from the Tour. As a suspect in the case, Basso is a potential witness, and his access to the material around the case has thus been denied.

The result of this is that Basso has been incriminated by Operation Puerto and thrown out of the Tour, but is not allowed to find out why and defend himself. And with a case of the magnitude of Operation Puerto, it may take months, if not years, before the case works itself through the courts.

Team CSC has asked Ivan Basso to prove his innocence, but if no case is raised against him, there is a very real possibility that it may take a very long time before that will be possible.

“It is impossible for me to say [how long the case may last]. But Ivan is suspended until we have a resolution. Such are the rules, and we will follow them. That of course also means he won’t be riding the Tour of Denmark, if the situation does not change.”

Asked what happens if Basso fails to prove his innocence, Riis is stern.

“There is no question. All our riders sign contracts that specify that any doping infringement is a breach of contract. And that is of course also true for Basso. It also states that the riders should only use the team’s doctors.”

Queried on Dr. Cecchini who was at one time Basso’s trainer, Riis reacted sharply: “Cecchini did not function as a doctor on the team. He is educated as a doctor, but that is not the same as him functioning as one with us.”

Riis acknowledges that the situation for Basso at the moment, unable to defend himself, is untenable, but notes that there is little he can do at the moment.

“I can’t start a case against Basso, but it is in our interest also to have a resolution soon. But we have to wait for the system to work, we don’t have other possibilities.”

With access to the information from Spain closed to him, Basso will have to hope that the UCI and the Italian cycling federation move quickly, and take a quick decision to either charge him for doping offences, or drop the case.

With the UCI spending time and energy quarrelling with WADA and the French sportsministry, who knows when that will be?

According to the Spanish police, Basso may have been one of Fuentes clients, under the code name of Birillo. And this Birillo is supposed to have performed a transfusion/blood manipulation on May 12, in the middle of the Giro.

Team CSC doctor, Joost de Maessener is very sceptical of this allegation, as it does not fit in with the tests that the team itself took during the Giro.

“There is nothing that happened during the Giro, that leads me to believe that Basso was doping,” Maesseneer explains in the Danish daily Jyllands Posten. “His blood was normal at the start of the race, and his Haematocrit fell a little toward the end of the race, which is normal. As far as I can see, he rode the race cleanly, although I can of course not know if he had been doing anything before the Giro [when the team doctors would not have been able to monitor Basso].”

Quick-Steps manager, Patrick Lefevre, has been quoted as supporting Bjarne Riis in the ongoing doping controversy, according to the Danish newspaper BT. Danish media have been harsh on Riis, saying that it is inconceivable that Basso could be doping without Riis knowing about it. Not so, according to Lefevre.

“I have had a similar case myself,” Lefevre says. “Johann Museuw was not just my rider, but also my friend for many, many years. We were always together. And it hit me like a bomb when it was revealed that he was involved with doping. I had no suspicion.

“Riis is not mentioned in the report [from Operation Puerto], and we believe in him,” Lefevre says.

Everyone on Team CSC are of course hard hit by the ongoing doping investigation implicating Basso. One thing that the team is not doing, however, is hiding away. In fact, every Team CSC rider at the Tour has apparently been given standing orders that he must reply openly to questions on the ongoing doping case against Ivan Basso.

So far, all that has resulted in, are statements of support for Basso. Comments so far indicate that Ivan Basso assured his team mates of his innocence in the case in a meeting after the suspension, and at least publically, all the riders have stated they believe him.

In an interview friday, Kurt Asle Arvesen, who is a close friend of Ivan Basso since their amateur days, said that he was highly surprised by the suspension, and will believe Basso innocent until proven otherwise. In the same interview, Kurt also expressed his anger and shock at the idea that so many riders in the peloton would be doping. “I feel cheated,” he says. “I ride and compete with these people. If this is so widespread as seems to be the case, then it is a terribly frustrating situation for those of us who ride cleanly.”

Bjarne Riis confirmed, over the weekend, that Ivan Basso would be welcome back at Team CSC if he could prove his innocence. He also noted, however, that the team would not be assisting him in doing so (presumably due to contract stipulations). While Riis has spoken with Basso since the suspension, most of the information he receives now comes through the media and rumors, as with everyone else.

Riis comments on the 38-page report: “It was written in Spanish, and I was just given a short summary of what was in it. I have received no official papers, and I get my information through the media like everyone else”. Riis notes that even though he was thus not presented with any convincing evidence of Ivan Basso’s guilt, the decision to suspend Basso was never in doubt. The ProTour teams had decided to suspend anyone under investigation, and obviously Basso was part of the investigation. Riis comments that even if the suspension may seem unjust if Basso turns out to be innocent, it is necessary to act like this in order to protect the integrity of cycling with respect to doping.

Riis however, believes in Basso. “I would like to note that there is no case yet started against Ivan, and I have no reason to suppose that he has lied to me.”

Riis will not demand that Basso takes a DNA test, as T-Mobile seems prepared to do with Ullrich.

“No, I have not for a moment considered it, and juridically, I doubt I have that power. That would be an invasion of privacy. Let us also remember that he is yet not accused of doping. He is accuded of being part of an investigation into doping.”

Among the latest allegations published, are allegations that Basso received a “blood boost” on the 12 may, a couple of days before he won a stage in the Giro d’Italia and took the pink jersey. Riis responds to this as follows:

“Mostly, I would like to simply say No comment. Partly because I have only just been told about this rumor by a couple of passing Danish tourists who I ran into after the end of the stage here in Strassbourg. Partly because it is so fantastic an allegation, that I can’t at all put it into context with the reality I have seen.

“I would very much like to publish the test numbers we have collected over the long period of time while we have worked with Ivan, but unfortunately these numbers are of course private to Ivan, and the initiative to make them public will have to come from Ivan himself. However, I can only underline that these numbers do not provide the least bit of indication that he has been manipulating his blood.”

Asked about the code-name Birillo, and whether this is in fact the name of Ivan’s dog, Riis has the following to say:

“I believe Ivan has a dog, but whether it is called Birillo I do not know. Off-hand, the name means nothing to me.”

Despite his refusal to put pressure on the suspended Team CSC captain, Riis notes that the team obviously would like a DNA test to be done, in order to determine Basso’s innocence or guilt.

In certain sections of the Danish media, Bjarne Riis is set to be hung and quartered as the accomplice to Ivan Basso, despite Riis’s protests that he has no reason to suspect any ill-doing on the part of his star. In particular, given Riis’s close rapport with his Italian captain, there are many questioning how Basso would be able to dope without Riis knowing.

Riis, however, receives support both from CSC and Laurent Lefevre (Quick-Step boss). CSC has announced their continued support of Team CSC, and that they intend to continue supporting the team regardless of whether Basso is convicted of doping or not.

At the moment, it appears that Ivan Basso has refused Pat McQuaid’s suggestions to all affected riders in Operation Puerto to submit a DNA test. The decision to refuse seems to have been made on the advice of Ivan Basso’s lawyer.

It is hard to understand why Basso would refuse this request if he is innocent; as it would seem that such a test would be able to establish definite guilt or innocence. It seems likely that the refusal to “cooperate” has to do with the fact that no material - not even the 38-page report the team leaders saw - has yet been received by any of the accused rider’s lawyers. This is obviously a very ridiculous situation for Basso’s lawyers to try and defend him in; and it is probably for this reason that the test has been refused. Nevertheless, such a decision, if protracted would be a public relations disaster. It should be noted, though that at the moment no official request for a DNA test has come from the investigation, so at the moment this is appears to be just part of the media frenzy going on around the case.

In the few press interviews that Basso has given, he states simply that he is innocent, and that once his lawyers actually receive any of the material on the case, they will set about proving him so. In the meantime, Ivan Basso is at home, and training in full Team CSC outfit in anticipation of a quick return to the peloton.

The following summarizes the “evidence” against Basso alleged to be in the 38-page summary document which was shown to the teams friday, and which led to the ejection of Ivan Basso (and eight other riders) from the Tour de France. My comments are in italics.

In a telephone conversation (recorded on May 14 at 21.46 between Kelme directeur Ignacio Labarta and Eufemiano Fuentes) Labarta links Basso and [Giro runner-up] José Enrique Gutierrez with Fuentes, appearing to identify them as clients. The affirmation of the relationship between Fuentes and Basso allows the linking of the codename ‘Birillo’ and, consequently, the number 2 in the list of blood samples to Ivan Basso.

It is interesting to note that the incriminating mention of Basso is now between Labarta and Fuentes, rather than Saiz and Fuentes, as earlier reported in Interviu. Also interesting is that there supposedly exists a blood sample marked #2 presumed to be Birillo’s. This suggests that innocence or guilt with respect to Basso could be established through a DNA test.

Document 65 which carries the letterhead of the Biomedisport Canarias SA company, managed by Fuentes, contains a list of the ‘collaborators and participants in the festival of the month of May. This expression seems to refer to the Tour of Italy - and following that, the list contained a number of names. Some media are claiming that Basso’s name was on this list, while others refer to the code-name - Birillo (assumed to refer to Basso) - along with the codenames now assumed to be those of Marcos Serrano, Michele Scarponi, José Enrique Gutierrez, and Jan Ullrich that was on the list.

The whole case, in short, seems to rest on the assumption that “Birillo” is in fact, Ivan Basso.

Edit (17/08/2006): It has now been clarified that “Document 65″ in fact contained the name Basso, as reported in some of the media.

Ivan Basso left the Tour de France yesterday under a cloud, but today’s papers contained a short comment from the Italian.

“I am certain that I will walk away from this with head held high. I will soon be out riding again - and winning. I will do it,” Basso says.

“My lawyer is now trying to get hold of the report [the report that ASO received that resulted in Basso's suspension]. Nobody seems to know where the heck it is. My lawyer wants to read it, and I am sure that I will emerge from this situation without problems, because I am innocent.”

He does not complain about the behavior of Team CSC.

“They told me I was suspended until my situation is clear. And they have to do this due to the ethical rules that the team follows. But I was also told that the team believes in me, and they are prepared to take me back with open arms.

“I have been treated like a thief, but I have tried worse things in my life. Two years ago, I rode the Tour despite knowing that my mother was sick with cancer. Compared to that, this case is nothing,” Basso says.

The evidence so far

The evidence, so far, is unfortunately very thin on the ground. Nothing has been made public, and in fact - so far - all we have is the allegations of the press.

The Spanish Paper - Interviu - made an early claim that Basso was allegedly mentioned in a discussion between Fuentes and Saiz. Saiz is supposed to have said: “Do you also take “it” to Basso”, (”it” assumed to refer to doping), a question which Fuentes did not reply to.

In the past couple of days, several Spanish papers have alleged that Basso appears on the list of clients that belonged to Merino (the other doctor involved in the case). According to these allegations, Basso should be the client hidden under the codename “Birillo” - supposedly the name of Basso’s dog.

Nothing further is known to the public.

The Team CSC leaderships, Bjarne Riis et al., and the other team directors have nevertheless seen the famed report for the case. Riis has not given any indication about how plausible he considers the evidence he has seen. Nevertheless, he confirmed that Ivan Basso is being investigated by the Spanish Police, and following the joint decision of the ProTour teams, all those riders involved in the investigation will be pulled out of the race.

Given that early reports mentioned the existence of many bags of blood being found, it must be assumed that presumed guilt or innocence can be established in the not too distant future, through DNA or blood matching. Until then, the Tour rolls on - though sadly diminished of its stars.

Due to allegations coming out of Operation Puerto, it appears that Ivan Basso will be barred from starting at the Tour de France.

At the moment, it seems that the allegations may have some truth to them. Unfortunately I will not be able to follow up on the details over the weekend, but I shall post more when more details are released.

P.S. Feel free to comment. Note however, that I won’t permit abusive comments to be published; whether or not Basso is guilty, there is no point in kicking a man when he is down.