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Two-time Giro d'Italia champion Ivan Basso out of this year's race

Cyst on buttock 'the size of a lemon' means Italian misses out on chance to challenge for third maglia rosa...

Ivan Basso has withdrawn from the Giro d'Italia just two days before this year's race starts in Naples, due to a cyst on one of his buttocks - according to Italian media reports Basso said it was 'the size of a lemon'. In a statement, the two-time Giro winner's Cannondale team said "It was clear there was no chance of Ivan pedalling during the next days."

The 35-year-old from the province of Varese, Lombardy, won the maglia rosa in 2006 while riding with Team CSC, and again in 2010 with his current outfit when it was known as Liquigas-Doimo.

Since that last win, however, he has struggled to genuinely challenge at Grand Tour level - in last year's Giro he was a peripheral figure among the GC challengers, finishing fifth overall, and in 2011 came seventh overall in the Tour de France.

Basso, who finished second to Lance Armstrong in the 2005 Tour - the American has of course been stripped of that title, but the win will not be reassigned - was expected to have only an outside chance of victory in this year's Giro, where Team Sky's Sir Bradley Wiggins and Astana's Vincenzo Nibali are tipped as the most likely winners.

Recently, Basso gave evidence in the Operacion Puerto trial in Spain. He himself received a two-year ban for his part in the scandal in 2007, although he always insisted he never actually doped, but only thought about doing so.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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13 comments

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sanderville | 10 years ago
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Whatever his penchant for home chemistry sets may be, if he really has a big cyst on his backside then I sympathise. Surely we've all been there?

With our own personal saddle-sore experience I mean, not up Basso's scrofulous chamois area.

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Argy replied to sanderville | 10 years ago
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Sanderville wrote:

Whatever his penchant for home chemistry sets may be, if he really has a big cyst on his backside then I sympathise. Surely we've all been there?

With our own personal saddle-sore experience I mean, not up Basso's scrofulous chamois area.

Agree, saddle sores are not nice!  46

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Coleman | 10 years ago
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The size of a lemon?

A bitter pill to swallow?

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mingmong | 10 years ago
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Don't know how he's got the cheeks

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bigant | 10 years ago
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For some reason I want pictures.

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Mpittick | 10 years ago
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Without EPO not a reall contender and has never been same rider since Those days. Giro better off without him.

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Argy replied to Mpittick | 10 years ago
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Mpittick wrote:

Without EPO not a reall contender and has never been same rider since Those days. Giro better off without him.

2nd that

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WolfieSmith | 10 years ago
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Moving away from the punning for a second... You're a hard man Simon; surely fifth and seventh at the Giro and TDF respectively are a bit better than 'peripheral'?

I would define the periphery to start at maybe eighth - or even the second pop up GC page on the telly?

On my club chainy fifth is pretty good - unless it's a field of 5....  4

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Super Domestique | 10 years ago
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I'm sure he will always insist (in cyst - see what I did there?) on his innocence.

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Roberj4 | 10 years ago
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Strange when ever Basso's mentioned Armstrong is to. I think he should be it medically 'Lanced'  21

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Colin Peyresourde | 10 years ago
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Hopefully he can get to the bottom of things and find out what caused this problem....

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Colin Peyresourde | 10 years ago
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perhaps he can't be arsed to win.

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picko | 10 years ago
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How ironic - he was a boil on the arse of cycling for years  19

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