Bruyneel remarks on Basso and ethical codes

"I am satisfied with my decision," said Discovery Channel Director Sportif Johan Bruyneel in an interview with Belgian media regarding the signing of Ivan Basso. Controversy is linked to signing the 29 year-old Italian due to his allegedly association with Operación Puerto. But in October the Italian cycling federation gave permission to resume racing and the Belgian director sportif saw no reason not to hire the 2006 Giro d'Italia winner.

"I saw no basis in stopping me from hiring the best cyclist in the world," continued Johan Bruyneel. "When the accusations fell against Basso we had four specialist lawyers, who looked at all the rules and ethical codes, come to the conclusion that there was nothing legally prohibiting us to reach an agreement with Basso."

Bruyneel, who was behind the wheel in Lance Armstrong's seven Tour de France vicotories, continued on the new rules reached by the ProTour teams, "In its pursuit for credibility, cycling drives harder than others [sports]. I had my doubts on certain parts of the [ethical] codes, like the automatic suspension of a team in the case of suspicious parameters.

"Overall it is good, but the director sportifs are not qualified in this field; we are neither the judges nor the medics," finished Bruyneel