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Basso parts company with CSC team

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LONDON, England -- Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso has left the CSC team in the wake of the doping allegations that saw him thrown out of this year's Tour de France just prior to the start.

Basso, who had been one of the favorites for the Tour, was cleared to resume racing last week when the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) recommended that all charges against him be dropped.

"It has been a very difficult decision, but both parties agree it is time to move on," said CSC team manager Bjarne Riis.

"After all that has happened, especially this summer, Team CSC and Ivan Basso have agreed to part ways," added Riis.

Basso, who was under contract with the Danish team until 2008, was one of a number of riders suspected of being involved in a doping and blood doping ring which Spanish police uncovered at the end of May only days before Basso's Giro D'Italia triumph.

The fall out rocked the world of cycling, with Basso and German star Jan Ullrich among several riders implicated in the scandal.

They were among nine men sensationally excluded from the Tour de France on the eve of the three-week race and have not ridden since.

Basso's situation improved last Thursday, when CONI said he had no case to answer, but they reserved the right to re-open the case in the event of fresh evidence.

And a Spanish judge, overseeing the investigation, said the evidence from the investigation, dubbed 'Operation Puerto', could not be legally used to seek sanctions against the riders who are implicated.

Basso, 29, repeated he had nothing to do with the blood-doping network, allegedly the brainchild of Madrid doctor Eufemiano Fuentes.

He told French sports daily L'Equipe on Monday that he has been courted by Lance Armstrong's former team, Discovery Channel.

"They made me a concrete proposal but I am open to other solutions," he said.

Discovery has been looking for a replacement for Armstrong, who retired after winning his seventh consecutive Tour de France in 2005 with Basso in second place.

Basso said there was also a chance he could join an Italian team.

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