Ivan Basso Draws Two Year Suspension

Ivan Basso, who won the 2006 Giro d'Italia and placed second in the 2005 Tour de France, has been suspended for two years because of his involvement in the Operation Puerto blood doping scandal, the Italian Cycling Federation has announced.

Basso has consistently denied using banned substances or doped blood. But the cyclist finally acknowledged last month that yes, he had in fact "attempted to dope." This is rich. You couldn't make this up. Basso's lame admittance came straight from Bill Clinton's "I did not inhale" textbook, and was the only possible response from Basso after his blood showed up in the lab of Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes. On top of it, text messages that recently surfaced between Basso and Dr. Fuentes, the focal point of the Spanish investigation, have made it increasingly difficult for Basso to maintain any sort of credibility and not have serious people burst out laughing whenever he came into the room.

Basso will get credit for the time he has already served in suspension since being tied to the scandal, meaning he will be eligible to return in October 2008.

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