Double Giro d’Italia victor Ivan Basso’s hopes of another strong showing in the race have been ruined by an unexpected health complication, with the Italian being forced to cancel his participation in the race as a result.
Basso’s Cannondale team has announced that he has suffered an abscess to his perineum, while other reports describe the condition as being a very large boil in the area. The saddle sore makes it impossible for him to take the start of the race, and instead Damiano Caruso will ride in his place.
“Yesterday morning, on awakening, Basso noted with unpleasant surprise an obvious and gross swelling of the perineal region which had not in any way, not even in mild form, manifested itself in the days before,” his Cannondale team stated today.
It said that after an immediate consultation with the team doctor Robert Corsetti, Basso went to the MultiMedica in Castellanza, Varese, where he was examined by a specialist. Treatments were undertaken since then.
“Throughout the day yesterday the rider, following the directions of Dr. Corsetti, has put in place all the therapeutic procedures (local and systemic antibiotic therapy, anti-inflammatory and anti-edema drugs, etc.),” the team explained in a statement.
“This morning, on awakening, further evaluation of the lesion showed the total impossibility of Basso cycling during the next few days.”
The team had already put Caruso on standby and he joined his team-mates yesterday evening. He will now take up Basso’s position, while the disappointed team leader will head home.
He will face further examinations and the outcomes of these will determine when he can return to training and then to competition.
Basso had been aiming to peak at the Giro d’Italia, although with the exception of second on a stage and fourth overall in the Settimana Coppi e Bartali, he had been very quiet this year. He withdrew from the Tour de Romandie prior to the start of stage five, having placed outside the top sixty on each of the stages until that point.
The 35 year old won the Giro in 2006 and 2010. The first of those victories was overshadowed by his implication in Operacion Puerto. He will presumably refocus on the Tour de France, although that is yet to be confirmed.