Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso, looking to race again after the Italian Olympic Committee recommended that doping allegations against him be dropped, says he has been courted by Lance Armstrong's former team, Discovery Channel.
``They made me a concrete proposal but I am open to other solutions,'' the Italian rider said in an interview published Monday by French sports newspaper L'Equipe.
Basso gave no details. Discovery has been looking for a replacement for Armstrong, who retired after winning his seventh consecutive Tour de France in 2005.
Basso said there was also a chance he would stay with his current team, CSC, or join an Italian team.
``Everything is possible, but at the moment _ and I am being sincere _ I hope that I can continue with CSC,'' said Basso, who is contracted with the Danish team until 2008.
Basso and several other pre-race favourites were excluded from this year's Tour de France after they or their teammates were implicated in a Spanish doping investigation. The riders were alleged to have had contact with a Spanish doctor accused of running a blood doping clinic.
Basso denied the allegations. The Italian Olympic Committee's anti-doping commission said last week that it would recommend to the disciplinary body of the Italian Cycling Federation that the accusations against Basso be dropped.
