The Italian Olympic Committee's anti-doping commission recommended Thursday that doping allegations against Giro d'Italia cycling champion Ivan Basso be dropped.

The committee said it will make the recommendation to the disciplinary body of the Italian Cycling Federation, which can decide whether to try the rider or dismiss the case.

Basso was one of nine riders _ including 1997 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich _ excluded from this year's Tour de France after being implicated in a Spanish doping investigation.

The riders were on a list of cyclists who allegedly had contact with a Spanish doctor accused of running a blood doping clinic in Madrid.

``We are delighted with the result,'' Basso's lawyer Massimo Martelli said Thursday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. ``It's the best possible outcome and we hope it stops here.''

Martelli said that Basso was to meet ``immediately'' with Danish team CSC, which suspended him in July, to decide his future. The rider who won the Giro d'Italia in May for his first major title, is contracted until 2008.

``All my client wants to do is get back to racing as soon as possible,'' Martelli said.

The CSC team could not be reached for comment.

Basso won the Giro d'Italia in May for his first major title.

Basso, who had been one of the pre-race favorites for the Tour de France, always denied the allegations.

© The Canadian Press, 2007