Ivan Basso banned for two years

Italy's Ivan Basso has been suspended for two years for doping offences by the Italian Cycling Federation.

The Italian Olympic Committee's doping investigators had recommended a 21-month ban for the former CSC and Discovery Channel rider, saying he had partially helped them with their investigations, but after a disciplinary hearing in Rome on Friday, the Italian Cycling Federation said Basso had not done enough to get a reduction.

However they did include the time Basso was suspended by CSC last summer and by Discovery Channel this spring and so reduced the ban by a total of 236 days. As a result Basso's ban will end on October 24 2008.

Basso had been hoping to ride at least a part of the 2008 season and perhaps even the 2008 Giro d'Italia. However he will now face more than a year and a half in the wilderness. He said he was unsure if he would make an appeal but promised he would eventually make a comeback.

"I knew it wasn't an easy situation and now I accept the decision and just want to keep riding my bike so that I can make a comeback in 2009 and do what I've always done. An appeal? I don't know. It's something that I'll decide with my lawyer. I'm already looking to the future, there's nothing else I can do."