ROME — Defending Giro d'Italia champion Ivan Basso should be banned from cycling for 21 months because of his involvement in the Spanish doping scandal, Italian Olympic Committee prosecutors recommended Friday.
Basso is accused of "the use or attempted use of a banned substance or method" and of "possession of banned substances and methods," the Olympic committee said in a statement.
Basso was suspended by the Italian cycling federation last week after acknowledging involvement in the Spanish blood-doping investigation, known as Operation Puerto. He confessed to "attempted doping" but said he never actually went through with it.
Basso, who won last year's Giro, quit his Discovery Channel team last month and is not riding in this year's race, which ends June 3.
Olympic committee chief prosecutor Ettore Torri said the length of the proposed ban is valid only if Basso offended once. International Cycling Union president Pat McQuaid has said he wants Basso to be banned for two years.
Another Italian cyclist, Michele Scarponi, admitted involvement in the scandal but denied doping.
The Spanish probe started in May 2006 when a doctor, Eufemiano Fuentes, and others were arrested in Madrid on suspicion of providing doping services to cyclists. The investigation implicated more than 50 cyclists and led to Basso, 1997 champion Jan Ullrich and seven other riders being excluded from last year's Tour de France.
Basso's name turned up on a list of cyclists who allegedly had contact with Fuentes. He initially was cleared of involvement, but the Italian Olympic Committee reopened the case last month after reportedly obtaining bags suspected of containing his blood.