PAU, France -- Stunning the Tour de France on its first rest day, doctors diagnosed a tumor in the left testicle of two-time Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso on Monday, forcing him out of the showcase race.
His former rival, Lance Armstrong, who survived testicular cancer that spread to his lungs and brain, immediately tweeted his support.
Thinking about @ivanbasso and wishing him the very best as he embarks on his cancer journey. #IvanSTRONG!!
— Lance Armstrong (@lancearmstrong) July 13, 2015At age 37, Basso wasn't a contender to win the race, as the Italian was in his heyday before he was banned for doping. But his experience and pedigree -- Basso finished second at the 2005 Tour and third in 2004 -- meant his withdrawal was keenly felt by his team leader, Alberto Contador.
Contador, the 2007 and 2009 champion, must now tackle the most arduous two weeks of the Tour, with decisive climbs in the Pyrenees and Alps, without the assistance and moral support of his veteran teammate and training partner.
On what is often an uneventful day of rest and relaxation, when riders recharge their batteries before the high mountains, a visibly shaken Basso appeared with Contador at a news conference and announced that just two hours earlier, doctors diagnosed a tumor in his left testicle, which had been painful since he crashed during Stage 5.
Contador put his arm around Basso and vowed, his voice cracking with emotion, to do his best to win the race to honor his teammate.
Basso said he has cancer.
"I have a small cancer in the left testicle," he said. "I have to stop and go back to Italy."
But his Tinkoff-Saxo team said more tests are needed to be certain the tumor is cancerous.
"Probabilities are very high," Pierre Orphanidis, a team spokesman, said in an Associated Press interview. "We still need the further analysis to be 100 percent sure."
Tumors can be benign, which means they're not cancerous and don't spread to other parts of the body, or malignant, which means they are cancerous and can spread.
Armstrong came back from cancer to win the Tour seven times, but he was later stripped of those victories for doping.
He and Basso had memorable battles on the Tour's roads when both were in their prime, long before Armstrong eventually confessed to doping. Basso served a two-year ban for his involvement in a blood-doping ring.
In what he called "a moment of weakness," Basso said at the time that he "attempted doping" but never actually went through with it. His wins at the Giro, one of cycling's three biggest stage races along with the tours of France and Spain, came on either side of that suspension, in 2006 and 2010.
Dedicated to helping Contador win at this 102nd Tour, Basso was in 158th place -- out of 185 remaining competitors -- and trailed race leader Chris Froome by more than 50 minutes after nine stages.
Basso's team said he will have surgery to remove the tumor and that other treatment will depend on the findings of more checkups.
"It has been a blow to all of us," said Contador. "The entire team will give its best in order to get the yellow jersey and enjoy it in Paris with him."