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Ivan Basso said Tuesday that he is "at peace" with himself ahead of his Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) hearing on doping allegations that may well decide his future as a cyclist. Basso, last year's Giro d’Italia winner and a pre-race favorite for the 2007 Tour de France, quit Discovery Channel on Monday noting that ongoing suspicions on him were damaging the team and its hunt for a new title sponsor. The decision has ruled him out of defending his Giro title in less than two weeks time, and has likely ruled him out of the Tour de France for the second year running. The 29-year-old

The podium

The Freiburg justice department will investigate charges that two lead doctors from the T-Mobile cycling team gave cyclists performance-enhancing drugs, according to Thursday's edition of Suddeutsche Zeitung. Wolfgang Meier, the Bavarian prosecutor general, said his department was taking very seriously accusations made by a former masseur of the team, Jef d'Hont. D'Hont claimed the two doctors, Andreas Schmid and Lothar Heinrich, supplied the team with EPO during the 1996 Tour de France, which was won by then-team member Bjarne Riis. "The information available to us has

Joe's Ridge

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

As defending Giro d’Italia champion Ivan Basso awaits a hearing on his alleged involvement in Spain’s Operación Puerto doping affair, news reports on Monday suggest that another 49 cyclists may be implicated in new documents seized in the year-old investigation. According to Gazzetta dello Sport, a new 6000-page dossier from the Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes implicates a new crop of clients in a scandal that has already ensnared several top riders, including Basso and 1997 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich. The Puerto scandal erupted in May of last year when police uncovered an alleged

Beleaguered Italian rider Ivan Basso has removed himself from his two-year contract with the Discovery Channel team at his own request just days ahead of a hearing before the Italian Olympic committee for alleged links to the Operación Puerto doping investigation. Basso requested to meet with sport director Johan Bruyneel and general manager Bill Stapleton on Sunday. In a press release issued Monday, Basso said the decision to leave the American team was his.

Tyler Hamilton will start next month’s Giro d’Italia—at least, that’s what his Tinkoff Credit System management insists in the face of growing pressure to suspend riders linked to the Operación Puerto doping scandal. The names of both Hamilton and new addition Jörg Jaksche showed up in police documents released by Spanish authorities last May, but Tinkoff officials denied reports in the Italian media that the team has sidelined the two riders ahead of the May 12 start of the Giro. “For me, Tyler and Jörg can start the Giro. Stories that they are suspended are not true,” Tinkoff general

Basso has asked for and been granted his release from Discovery

Ramsey takes the overall

Munoz wins the final stage

Danielson: 'Hey, look, man, there goes your race'

Cruz readying up for Paris-Roubaix

SWEEEEP! Luna does it again

A healthy gap. Di Luca has time to relish his win

Kiriyenka leads the day's early break

Floyd Landis claimed Sunday that electronically stored data from disputed dope tests conducted on his 2006 Tour de France stage 17 samples had been destroyed at a French laboratory. Simon Davis, a technical consultant for Landis, told the cyclist that "critical evidence stored as electronic data files had been erased from the hard drive and the original data destroyed at the Laboratoire National de Depistage du Dopage (LNDD)," according to a release issued by Landis spokesman Michael Henson on Sunday. "The existing data bears indication of alteration," the release said. Davis was at the

Often called the greatest of the one-day classics, Liege is marked by a series of tough, narrow climbs like the Cote St. Roche

The Future of the NMBS: A Conversation with Jeff Frost

Vinokourov was here to test his legs for his biggest goal of the year.

Gilberto Simoni is well suited to the roads of Liège-Bastogne-Liège .

Gerolsteiner gives chase on the Haute Levee

Amstel Gold winner, Stefan Schumacher

The big names began to appear at the front on the Stockeu and Redoute

Horner loves this race

Horner puts the pressure on

Rabobank's three-time world champion Oscar Freire was relaxed at the start.

Schumacher gets a gap

Liège-Bastogne-Liège - A view from the start

Liquigas and Quick Step remember last week and put on a big chase.

Liège-Bastogne-Liège - A view from the start

Schumacher finally bridges to the leaders

DiLuca has to be among the favorites

His gamble paid off

World champion Paolo Bettini (Quick Step-Innergetic) said he's recovered from the food poisoning that saw him vomiting from the bike at Fleche.

Di Luca decides it's now or never

Riding in his last LBL, Rabobank's Michael Boogerd is hoping for a good result.

Anthony nails the sprint

CSC rider Frank Schleck learned Saturday that he broke a vertebra in his fall at last Sunday's Amstel Gold Race, but he's riding anyway.

left to right: Christopher Jones, Javier Zapata, Nathan Bowman

Kabush takes his pull.... when it counts.

Zajicek driving the break

Nash, Plaxton score wins at Santa Ynez short-track

Nash, Plaxton score wins at Santa Ynez short-track

A former trainer who once worked with now-retired Jan Ullrich has claimed that the 1997 Tour de France winner was injected with erythropoietin during the 1996 edition of the race. Jeff d' Hont, a Belgian soigneur employed by the Telekom team from 1992 till 1996, claimed in the German weekly newspaper Der Spiegel that Ullrich took the banned blood booster in 1996. He also claims the German team's medical supervisors, who coninue to work for the team under its current name T-Mobile, encouraged use of EPO. D'Hont accused two doctors, Lothar Heinrich and Andreas Schmid, of having

Valverde won in 2006, taking a race that favors all-around talents

Liège-Bastogne-Liège - The Classic closer of the Ardennes

Horner calls La Doyenne 'the best one-day race in cycling.'

Bettini says he's recovered from the stomach problems that ailed him at Flèche

Bettini's right when he calls Liège 'the hardest classic by far.'

Evans says he may be riding in support of Horner

The Santa Ynez Classic is drawing more attention this year

Barry Wicks

JHK astride his 29-er

Gould has had an amazing early season

The men's break charges back to Bisbee

Holt, all alone out front and loving it

Collier climbs to the top of Mule Pass

GC leader Javier Zapata is congratulated by Staunton police chief Jim Williams.

(From left to right) Alejandro Borrajo, Jonathan Cantwell, Ben Raby.

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Defending Giro d’Italia champion Ivan Basso’s career is on hold ashe awaits an appearance before an Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) investigatingpanel next Wednesday in Rome. The panel has reopened an investigation into alleged ties between the29-year-old Italian and Eufemiano Fuentes, the infamous sports doctor atthe center of the Operación Puerto scandal in Spain. Basso was among nine riders barred from participation in the 2006 Tourde France when notes seized in the police raids that marked the Puertoinvestigation appeared to link them to an apparent doping ring headedby Fuentes. While

Wrist healed, George is back!

“The Puerto Nine” (From top, L-R) Jan Ullrich and Oscar Sevilla (T-Mobile), Ivan Basso (CSC), Francesco Mancebo (AG2R), Joseba Beloki, Isidro Nozal, Australia's Allan Davis, Sergio Paulinho and Alberto Contador (Astana-Wurth).

Will Basso be in a position to defend his Giro trophy?

Basso's future may hang by a strand - so to speak.

Last September, Basso was elated after his last appearance before CONI investigators.

Holt starts her ride in downtown Bisbee

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Michele Scarponi (Acqua e Sapone) has been targeted by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) in connection with his implication in the Operación Puerto doping affair which erupted last May. CONI this week announced that Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso, now under suspension from the Discovery Channel team, has been asked to attend a hearing on May 2 to answer charges on his implication in the scandal. Scarponi, who at the time of the Puerto investigation was a member of the Liberty Seguros team, has been ordered to appear on Wednesday as well, but at 8:30 in the morning. Basso is slated

Press Release - Ryan Updates Best-Selling Nutrition Book

Zabriskie remains the only American to win stages in all three grand tours.

Cruz gets ready for the rough road to Roubaix.

The Mule Mountains await on Stage 3

Zapata holds his lead despite losing time on Thursday