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Press Release - Basso and Discovery confirm agreement for DNA testing
Discovery Channel and Ivan Basso confirmed Friday that under the termsof their contract, the Italian rider has agreed to provide a DNA sampleif this is requested in a national judicial or disciplinary investigation.“There has never been a DNA issue,” Johan Bruyneel said. “Ivan agreedthrough his lawyer even before we signed to give a sample. He just wantedto make sure that the guarantees provided by the law would be respected.”Bruyneel said parts of the Code of Conduct hastily adopted by the teamsshould be reviewed.“We believe that even an athlete is innocent until proven guilty. AFrench prosecutor announced an investigation of Lance Armstrong in January2005. Just this month, 22 months later, he announced that he was droppingthe case. Under the Code of Conduct, would we have had to sideline Lancefrom the 2005 Tour?” the Discovery Channel team director said.The Code of Conduct provides among other things that teams will notallow any rider to compete if there is any disciplinary or criminal proceedingpending, even though no guilty verdict has been reached. The Code alsorequires any rider who is found guilty to be excluded from racing for fouryears after the guilty verdict, even if the official suspension is forshorter period.“The Code of Conduct creates some issues that we will have to work togetherto resolve,” Bruyneel said.
TAILWIND SPORTS
Tailwind Sports owns and operates the Discovery Channel Pro CyclingTeam. Founded in 1989, the team has established itself as one ofthe best in the world and is the only American team to have won each ofthe sports’ premier events: the Tour de France, Tour of Spain and Tourof Italy, including Lance Armstrong’s historic seven consecutive victoriesat the Tour de France.Tailwind has partnered with Capital Sports & Entertainment (CSE),an experiential event and sports marketing firm based in Austin, Texasto manage the sponsorship and operations of the team. Tailwind supportsboth USA Cycling and the USA Cycling Development Foundation to help identifyand develop future American cyclists. Find out more about the Team andCSE at: www.thepaceline.com and www.planetcse.comABOUT DISCOVERY COMMUNICATIONS
Discovery Communications, Inc. is the leading global real-world mediacompany with operations in 170 countries and territories reaching 1.4 billioncumulative subscribers. DCI’s over 100 networks of distinctive programmingrepresent 29 trusted brands including Discovery Channel, TLC and AnimalPlanet. DCI’s other properties consist of Discovery Education and COSMEO,a revolutionary online homework help service, as well as Discovery Commerce,which operates more than 100 Discovery Channel Stores in the U.S. Discovery brings the real world to the whole world through its global multiplatforminitiatives including Discovery Travel Media, Discovery Mobile and multiplebroadband services. DCI’s ownership consists of four shareholders:Discovery Holding Company (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB), Cox Communications, Inc.,Advance/Newhouse Communications and John S. Hendricks, the Company’s Founderand Chairman. More information about Discovery and its businesses can befound at www.discovery.com .
