ProTour decides not to kick out Discovery over Basso hiring
"An international cycling team federation decided Thursday against kicking out the Discovery Channel team for hiring Giro d'Italia champion Ivan Basso.
"The International Professional Cycling Teams group includes all teams that compete in the ProTour, the major international races.
"Last month, IPCT chairman Patrick Lefevere called for the exclusion of Discovery Channel, saying it disregarded the group's ethical code by hiring Basso, who was implicated in "Operation Puerto," a Spanish doping scandal."
And that's really the only decision that makes sense. As Johan said when they signed Basso:
"A French prosecutor announced an investigation of Lance Armstrong in January 2005. Just this month, 22 months later, he announced that he was dropping the case. Under the Code of Conduct, would we have had to sideline Lance from the 2005 Tour?"
And that result is exactly why the Code of Conduct is a mistake.