Giro d'Italia champion Ivan Basso has admitted being involved in the Operation Puerto doping scandal, the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) said on Monday.

"The office of the anti-doping power of attorney has listened today to Ivan Basso...and he has widely admitted his own responsibilities relative to Operation Puerto and has supplied the maximum collaboration in order to clear up the relative facts of his involvement," a statement on CONI's website (www.coni.it) said.

CONI, which acts as Italy's anti-doping body, said Basso had made an impromptu appearance to the authorities on Monday to explain his position. He had appeared before a CONI doping hearing last Wednesday which was adjourned with no new date fixed.

The Italian rider has been accused of violating article 2.2 of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code concerning "use or attempted use of a prohibited substance or a prohibited method".

"We are calm and aware we have done the right thing," Basso's lawyer Massimo Martelli was quoted as saying on the Gazzetta dello Sport website (www.gazzetta.it).

"If Ivan has done what he has done it is because he loves his sport. We looked each other in the eyes and we said to each other that it was a case of lifting this weight off our backs, from our conscience."

Martelli said there was likely to be a news conference soon, possibly in Milan.

Basso was forced to miss last year's Tour de France as one of over 50 professional riders implicated in Operation Puerto.

The Spanish investigation was launched after police raids in Madrid and Zaragoza found large quantities of anabolic steroids, blood transfusion equipment and more than 200 bags of blood.

The 29-year-old, who quit the Discovery Channel team last week, has previously stated he was a victim in the investigation and maintained his innocence.

Troubled sport

Basso could now face a two-year ban, although Italian media reported that his offer to help the authorities may lead to leniency.

The admission further undermines a troubled sport which has lurched from one doping scandal to the next.

Tour de France champion Floyd Landis faces being stripped of the title and banned after testing positive for excessive amounts of the male sex hormone testosterone during last year's race.

The American, who denies using performance-enhancing drugs, is due to appear before the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency on May 14.

Italian Marco Pantani, who won the Tour and the Giro in 1998, died of a cocaine overdose in 2004 after a career beset by doping allegations.

In a recent investigation carried out in Germany, DNA tests confirmed that some of the bags of blood seized in Operation Puerto belonged to 1997 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich, who retired from the sport in February.

The Spanish judge leading the Operation Puerto investigation closed the case in March with no charges laid.

Italian anti-doping investigators also dropped the case against Basso last October but said it be could be reopened if new evidence emerged.

(China Daily via Agencies May 9, 2007)