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BRUSSELS, Dec 10 (CP) - The International Professional Cycling Teams (IPCT) have voted to exclude Discovery Channel and Manolo Saiz' company Active Bay from their group. In the meeting, president Patrick Lefevre stated that Discovery Channel's signing of Ivan Basso is against the rules, as the teams would not sign any rider mentioned in Operacion Puerto. All IPCT members were present in Brussels, except Caisse d'Epargne and Active Bay. The American Discovery Channel was represented by an attorney. "Discovery Channel did not respect the rules. The ethic code is clear: a ProTour team should not sign a rider involved in Operacion Puerto," a participant of the meeting said. After the meeting, Johan Bruyneel reacted: "We know we have enemies, but if someone decides to make this attitude a mission, they have to know that we are ready to go all the way. "It seems that only the names of Basso and Jan Ullrich are important. I wonder why nobody reacted on Lampre-Fondital, Euskaltel or other teams which are in the same situation," he continued. However this does not affect the American formation as a ProTour team, as they keep their license. "It has nothing to do with the ProTour," ProTour manager Alain Rumpf told Cyclingnews. "The IPCT is a company set up by a number of ProTour teams to represent them and take care of their interests, but it has no official or regulatory relationship with the ProTour," he explained.

© Jeroen Michiels