Two times Italian Giro winner admits to having paid for blood extractions to fulfil Tour "dream" in Puerto case

In a video conference from Tenerife, where he is currently at a training camp with his team, Cannondale,  Ivan Basso has admitted that he agreed to pay Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes approximately 70,000 euro in late 2005 in return for a complex doping system ahead of the 2006 Tour de France. Basso was the next rider to be called to give evidence in the Operación Puerto trial in which Fuentes, former ONCE and Liberty Seguros manager, Manolo Saiz, and three others are charged with “crimes against public health”.

Basso has previously admitted his mistakes in the past and was handed a two-year suspension in 2007 for his links to the Puerto case - in relation to his three-year stint at Bjarne Riis' CSC squad. Basso is not on trial himself because his actions were not illegal in Spain at the time. Basso also claimed that he acted entirely on his own and that team owner, Bjarne Riis, knew nothing of his contacts with Dr. Fuentes.

While Basso admitted to having blood removed three times in late 2005 with the intention to use it prior to the Tour de France in 2006, he repeated his previous statements that he did not transfuse the blood back into his system. Basso never paid the full fee because he reportedly did not receive the agreed program as he was expelled prior to the start of the 2006 Tour. He instead allegedly paid Fuentes some 27,000 euro before authorities stepped in.

"I met Fuentes in 2001-02, during a stay in the Canary Islands for training, but as a patient I contacted him during the winter of 2005, when I was in the CSC team," said Basso. "I contacted Dr. Fuentes because his system could give me an advantage in cycling. I acknowledge that on my account it was a weakness, a weakness so as to pursue a dream to win [the Tour]. "Three blood extractions took place in the fall of 2005, but the blood was never re-injected into me. My intention was to use the blood for winning the Tour in 2006, but as the network was dismantled in May 2006, it was never done," he said.

Prior to being expelled from the Tour in 2006 Basso won the Giro d'Italia and while he did say he was sorry about his past mistakes during the video conference, he also seemed to suffer from 'amnesia' when he was questioned about documents that link him, through his code name "Brillo", to the controversial doctor months earlier than previously stated.

"I do not remember. It was years ago and my memory is not as good," he said.

Alberto Contador is the next rider to appear before a judge as a witness following Jörg Jaksche's damning testimony and Basso's evidence. An extension was granted due to Contador’s participation at the Tour of Oman and he will now appear at the court in Madrid on 22 February. Contador had asked to provide evidence as a defence witness for his former team boss, Manolo Saiz, via video conference was denied.