Basso with lawyer, Massimo Martelli (Image credit: AFP)
"The statements by Riis are very confusing," responded Ivan Basso's lawyer Massimo Martelli to the comments made by his client's former team manager, Bjarne Riis of CSC. Yesterday, Riis noted that if the Italian had agreed to DNA testing he could have stayed with Team CSC. On November 8, Basso, winner of the 2006 Giro d'Italia, officially ended any possibility of continuing with CSC when it was announced he had signed with Discovery Channel.
"[Giovanni] Lombardi and I participated in the negotiations for a contract resolution [with CSC]," continued Martinelli to La Gazzetta dello Sport. "Riis never downright asked for Ivan to submit to a DNA test."
Riis noted, "We were of course talking about it. We didn't say that he had to do it, as we can't insist on something like that, but of course we asked him about the possibility of it. We left open all the possibilities to prove that he is clean."
