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Ivan Basso said Tuesday that even though he had planned to blood dope for the 2006 Tour de France, he had actually never taken banned drugs or used blood transfusions. Basso's comments at a press conference follow his admission on Monday to the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) that he was involved in the Operación Puerto blood doping scandal that rocked last year's Tour de France. "I have never taken banned substances and I have never employed blood doping," last year's Giro d’Italia champion told reporters in an emotional statement he read prior to the start of a press

"I experimented with marijuana a time or two. And I didn't like it, and didn't inhale, and never tried it again." — Bill Clinton, The New York Times, March 31, 1992 Anyone expecting great things following Ivan Basso’s solemn confession that he was the “Birillo” named in Operación Puerto should sit down, take a deep breath and a deeper drink, and recall how he or she felt when told that Santa Claus, the Easter bunny and compassionate conservative George W. Bush weren’t for real. This guy won’t even do a proper job of ratting himself out, much less anyone else. "I have never taken

Basso readies to meet the press.

Basso said he is willing to accept the consequences

Last Friday, we noted the impending limited release of the Graeme Obree biopic “The Flying Scotsman” and asked for your capsule reviews. We got that and more — several of you wrote to remind us of works we had overlooked in our abbreviated list of cycling films, including “6 Day Bike Rider,” a 1934 comedy starring Joe E. Brown; “Deux Secondes,” a Canadian film about an aging downhill racer who takes a job as a bicycle courier; “Le Vélo de Ghislain Lambert,” a comedy-drama about the misfortunes of a Belgian cyclist; and “Tracks of Glory,” an Australian mini-series about the legendary champion

Basso

'The Flying Scotsman': Your reviews

Gould hit the front and stayed there

Trebon tearing it up

Ivan Basso on Monday confessed to the anti-doping prosecutor of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) that he was involved in the Operación Puerto blood doping scandal. CONI said the 2006 Giro winner came to them of his own accord and offered to cooperate with their investigation and clarify his part in the scandal. Basso will face the media Tuesday at a midday press conference at Milan's Michelangelo hotel. The 29-year-old Basso now faces a ban from cycling of up to two years and an additional two-year exclusion from riding on ProTour teams. If his doping is connected to his 2006 Giro

Jonathan “Jock” Boyer may be best known as the first American cyclist to compete in the Tour de France. But these days, the 51-year-old has focused his passion on the central African nation of Rwanda. Along with longtime friend Tom Ritchey, Boyer is one of the key members of Project Rwanda, which aims to use cycling to accelerate Rwanda’s economic and social recovery from a brutal civil war and genocide. Ritchey’s involvement with the project centers on designing affordable bicycles to help Rwandan coffee growers distribute their crop. Boyer’s job is to establish and develop a team of elite

The men's podium

The women's podium

Boyer and Adrien Niyonshuti prepare for the first stage of the 2007 Absa Cape Epic

Team Rwanda riders Adrien Niyonshuti (right) and Rafiki Jean De Diu Uwimana

The team takes a training ride on Park Avenue in Moab, Utah

The team as it prepared to race the Tour of the Gila in Silver City, New Mexico

Dekker wins the finale and the overall

Horner rode well enough to stay in the top five overall

The men's podium

Moninger wins the stage and takes third overall

O'Neill celebrates his overall victory

Asplund wins the women's finale

The women's podium

Kabush struggled on the climbs, but still had enough in the tank to take the win

The podium at Spartanburg

Dekker gestures as Anton goes for the win

Horner in yellow

Horner, Dekker and Gadret

Going up

Gould rode away from the competition

Bono takes the stage

Savoldelli holds the overall lead, but just barely

The break rolls

Pinotti goes it alone

Bono and Beppu chase

Kabush and Vanlandingham hit the line at the same time last year

Peterson takes the win on a softening tire

Bausch defies the women of Webcor

O'Neill wasn't worried

Abbott keeps that pink jersey

The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to webletters@insideinc.com. Please include your full name, hometown and state or nation. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month. The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company,

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"Breaking Away." "American Flyers." "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure." "The Triplets of Belleville." Cinematic history is replete with paeans to the sport of bicycle racing. Okay, so those are the only four we could think of. And to be honest, "Pee-Wee" is pushing the envelope. But this weekend brings a new cycling flick — the Graeme Obree biopic "The Flying Scotsman — and we'd like to know what you think of it, if only because we can't see it ourselves (it's being released in a few select cities, one of which ours is not). Send your capsule reviews to us at

They may disagree about much, but Prudhomme, McQuaid and Lefevere agree on the doping question.

The day before last week’s Flèche-Wallonne, a high-powered group met in Charleroi, Belgium, to discuss how to handle the latest developments in the ongoing Operación Puerto doping inquiry. Among those in attendance were UCI ProTour manager Alain Rumpf; Christian Prudhomme, chief of Tour de France organizers Amaury Sports Organization; and Quick Step-Innergetic’s Patrick Lefevere, president of International Professional Cycling Teams (IPCT). An announcement was promised before last Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège; however, it never came. But Rumpf had a moment to chat with VeloNews in the

McQuaid - seen here at a recent anti-doping conference in Montreal - has a big job ahead of him.

UCI ProTour chief Alain Rumpf

McEwen celebrates at the line

Crosbie gets his 15 minutes

And where did you ride today?

Milram drives the chase

The pileup

The podium

Abbott rides into the lead

O'Neill is enjoying his return to the podium after a tough early season

Munoz takes the stage

In recent weeks, American Floyd Landis leveled several serious charges against staff and testing procedures at the French national anti-doping laboratory - National de Depistage du Dopage at Châtenay-Malabry- alleging that samples and data have been mishandled throughout the nine-month probe of the doping case stemming from an apparent testosterone positive following his victory on stage 17 of the 2006 Tour de France.

T-Mobile suspended team doctors Andreas Schmid and Lothar Heinrich on Thursday in the wake of allegations made by a former soigneur that the pair was involved in doping practices during the 1996 Tour de France. T-Mobile general manager Bob Stapleton said the doctors would be suspended while Germany’s University of Freiburg – with which both Schmid and Heinrich are associated – conducts an independent review of the allegations. “After discussion with doctors Heinrich and Schmid, we have mutually agreed to discontinue their personal provision of medical service during the course of these

Italian cyclist Michele Scarponi has agreed to give a DNA sample to the Italian Olympic Commitee (CONI), which is investigating whether he may be connected to last year’s Operación Puerto doping scandal. A CONI statement said Scarponi had been called to the hearing "following the reopening of the investigation into Operación Puerto.” “He is suspected of having violated article 2.2 of the World Anti-Doping Code on the use and attempted use of illegal substances or methods,” the statement continued. After spending 90 minutes at CONI headquarters in Rome, the former Astana rider, now with the

The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to webletters@insideinc.com. Please include your full name, hometown and state or nation. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month. The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company,

Pereiro has his eye on July

Fothen takes the sprint

Savoldelli holds onto the jersey

Defending champ Cadel Evans says the early going suits teammate Chris Horner to a T

The Vivid long-travel, coil-over rear shock

The Monarch 4.2, RockShox’s high-end rear air shock

The new X.0 rear derailleur

The Noir, in single-speed with chain guard

The Stylo 3.3 Team crank is Truvativ’s workhorse crank

Juicy's carbon lever

The Code 5 lever

The Code 5 caliper

Our latest reader-submitted Photo Gallery is now ready for your viewing pleasure. Of course, a new gallery also means the naming of the winner of our most recent contest. This week’s winning photograph had us wondering why we’re sitting behind a desk pining for time on the trails instead of heading to the desert. Take a look at “Joe’s Ridge” by Perry Brown. You can imagine a day’s worth of riding if you follow that line with your eye. Dang… enough with imagining. We’re going riding! Nice work, Perry. Please drop us a note at Rosters@InsideInc.comto work out the details and we’ll send

Romandie - here led by Liberty's Alberto Contador (now with Discovery) - is a good opportunity for Giro-bound climbers to test their legs.

Cadel Evans took the overall title in 2006

The new XT — plenty of choice for 2008

The new BL-775 brake lever incorporates Servo-Wave technology

The ST-M775 Dual Control lever does as well, both feature radial master brake cylinders.