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.