Basso agreed to DNA test

"There has never been a DNA issue," Discovery Channel's sporting director Johan Bruyneel told the Italian newspaper. "Ivan agreed through his lawyer even before we signed to give a sample. He just wanted to make sure that the guarantees provided by the law would be respected."

Basso signed a two-year deal with the American squad after his Italian Cycling Federation cleared him last month of all charges stemming from the Operation Puerto doping scandal.

The 2006 Giro D'Italia victor was a favourite at this year's Tour de France before he was suspended on the eve of the race after organisers received Spanish court document linking the rider to the doping probe.

As part of the investigation more than 100 bags of blood and large quantities of medical equipment that could be used in blood-doping practices were discovered during a May raid on Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes' clinic in Madrid.

The Italian was cleared after the judge in the case said sporting federation's could not use the reports in disciplinary hearings against riders, and Discovery's decision to sign him has received criticism from Basso's former CSC team-mate Jens Voigt, among others.

Still, Bruyneel protested that ongoing investigations should not prevent riders from taking the start-line until they are proven guilty, citing former team leader Lance Armstrong's experiences with the French judiciary.

"We believe that even an athlete is innocent until proven guilty. 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 [in which Armstrong won a record seventh Tour de France]?" Bruyneel demanded.

The UCI Pro Tour's Code of Conduct says that riders facing criminal or disciplinary hearings cannot compete.

"The Code of Conduct creates some issues that we will have to work together to resolve," Bruyneel acknowledged.