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CONI prosecutor says Basso now under pressure not to talk

By Agence France Presse
Published: May. 15, 2007

The Italian Olympic Committee's (CONI) anti-doping prosecutor Ettore Torri hit out Tuesday at the people putting pressure on disgraced cyclist Ivan Basso to clam up.

The Giro d’Italia champion had been collaborating with CONI after admitting to having been involved in “an attempt to dope,” but Torri said that Basso has now suddenly stopped helping them with their inquiries.

"The results from the first phase (of the inquiry) are a little less brilliant than we were hoping for," Torri told a press conference in Rome on Monday.

"After a completely negative first interview (on May 2), during the second interview (May 7) Basso seemed set to collaborate, cautiously of course, but by giving us some concrete evidence,” Torri said. "That would have been confirmed in the third interview (May 10) but that was not the case. Obviously he had been contacted not only by his lawyers but also by sponsors and sporting directors who convinced him to backtrack."

Torri insisted, though, that there would be no let up in the inquiry and he would be searching for new evidence.

It means there will be a longer delay before a judgment is made on Basso and Michele Scarponi, who also admitted his involvement in the Operación Puerto scandal that gripped cycling last summer - and deprived amongst others Basso of his Tour de France participation.

The 29-year-old Basso, who last week had voluntarily agreed to collaborate with CONI, admitted to having had contacts with the tainted doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, although he denied ever having actually taken banned substances.

He simply admitted that he was planning to ahead of the 2006 Tour de France, which he subsequently missed.

Torri said that Basso was afraid of losing his job and being ostracized from the peloton, as well as being stripped of his 2006 Giro title.

"As we all know, during bike races, the easiest thing is to end up in a ditch. They (Basso and Scarponi) have expressed their fears on that matter," added Torri.