Twice-winner of the Giro d’Italia, Ivan Basso, has revealed during today’s rest day of the Tour de France that he has been diagnosed with testicular cancer. He will be returning to Italy for treatment. Basso had been expected to be one of the key Tinkoff-Saxo team members to try and help Alberto Contador win the Tour de France.
Basso said today at the team’s hotel in Pau: “Unfortunately I have a bad announcement to give to you guys. In stage number five I had a really small crash and on the crash I touched my testicle on the saddle.”
“For a few days I felt a small pain. Yesterday (Sunday) our doctor spoke with the doctor of the Tour and we decided to go to make a special analysis to the hospital. The examination gave me bad news. I have a small cancer in the left testicle.”
An emotional Alberto Contador also spoke at the press conference. “It has been a very tough day for the whole team; we never imagined something like that,” he said. “Now the first thing is to analyse what’s happened to Ivan, to support him and hope that everything’s resolved as soon as possible. For me it has been very hard because over the last 180 days we spent 120 days together and we have been very close to each other. But I’m sure that we will be together again in Paris to celebrate the Tour victory.”
According to the Tinkoff-Saxo doctor, Basso has 98-99% chance of making a full recovery.
Wishing Ivan all the best.
Our thoughts are with you and the team.