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Sunday's EuroFile: Ludwig critical of Basso deal

By The Associated Press
Published: Nov. 12, 2006
Discovery moved quickly to sign Basso once he was cleared. Some say tooquickly.
Discovery moved quickly to sign Basso once he was cleared. Some say tooquickly.
Photo: Graham Watson

Former T-Mobile manager Olaf Ludwig rebuked the management of the Discovery Channel cycling team on Saturday for signing Ivan Basso, the Italian rider linked to Spain’s Operación Puerto doping scandal.

The Giro d'Italia champion was one of nine riders — including 1997 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich — excluded from this year's Tour de France after being implicated in the investigation.

Doping charges against Basso were dismissed last month by the Italian Olympic Committee and Italian cycling federation.

"Discovery regards dropping the legal proceedings as the same thing as being cleared," Ludwig told the Berlin Kurier daily. "What's left of a code of honor among team managers is questionable — the dumb one here is CSC boss Bjarne Riis, who dissolved his contract with Basso."

Riis had expressed frustration over Basso’s continuing refusal to submit to DNA tests so as to confirm that his was not among hundreds of bags of blood stored at the home and office of Eufemiano Fuentes, the Spanish doctor accused of running a blood-doping clinic in Madrid.

Discovery announced Wednesday it had signed Basso to a two-year contract, three weeks after Danish cycling team CSC and the Italian ended their contract.

Basso and Ullrich were on a list of cyclists who allegedly had contact with Fuentes. Ullrich was released by the team soon after he was barred from the Tour and Ludwig was let go as part of a complete management shake-up carried out to reassure its nervous team sponsor. Ludwig was replaced by American Bob Stapleton.

Bill Stapleton, general manager of the Discovery team -- and no relation to the T-Mobile manager -- said he considered Basso, Ullrich and Lance Armstrong to be the dominant riders of recent years.

"I think he's been exonerated," Bill Stapleton said. "The ProTour required we wait until there was a decision. Now it's time to move on."

Basso finished third in the 2004 Tour de France and was second in 2005 behind Armstrong.

Ludwig believes Ullrich, who was fired by T-Mobile due to the doping scandal, also will compete again soon, although the German doesn't have a team yet.

"I'm pretty sure that Jan Ullrich will be riding again," Ludwig said. "Whether he can reach the same level of performance, however, is another question."