What should have been a day in which the Tour de France mountain battle occupied everyone's thoughts was overshadowed by the shock news Monday that Ivan Basso has testicular cancer.

The 37-year-old Italian stunned the gathered media when he arrived at a press conference in Pau meant to be about his Tinkoff-Saxo team leader Alberto Contador and dropped a bombshell about his health.

"Unfortunately I have a bad announcement to give to you guys," said Basso, a former Giro d'Italia winner.

"In stage number five I had a really small crash and on the crash I touched my testicle on the saddle.

"For a few days I felt a small pain. Yesterday (Sunday) our doctor spoke with the doctor of the Tour and we decided to go to make a special analysis to the hospital.

"The examination gave me bad news: I have a small cancer in the left testicle.
"So it's easy to understand that I have to stop and go back to Italy. Our doctor is already in contact with the specialist in Italy to fix the operation as soon as possible."

Contador himself led fellow riders past and present in offering their support to Basso.

"It has been a very tough day for the whole team; we never imagined something like that," said the Spaniard.

"For me it has been very hard because over the last 180 days we spent 120 days together and we have been very close to each other."

Movistar's Alejandro Valverde chipped in: "On behalf of the whole team we want to give him the best wishes in the world.

"It's a shame that these things happen, but that's life and he has our sympathy and support."

Even disgraced former champion cyclist Lance Armstrong offered his sympathies.
"Thinking about @ivanbasso and wishing him the very best as he embarks on his cancer journey. #ivanSTRONG!!" he wrote on Twitter.

Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1996 but recovered to go on and dominate the Tour de France -- before being stripped of his seven straight titles from 1999 to 2005 for doping -- while he also set up a charitable foundation called Livestrong, which raised money to battle the disease.

Basso was once one of Armstrong's great rivals, finishing third behind the American in 2004 and second during Armstrong's last Tour win in 2005.

But he also served a doping ban over his links to drug-doctor Eufemiano Fuentes when he was found to have "attempted" to cheat.

- 'The race starts now' -

Speaking before the Basso news dropped, other riders were looking forward to the battle ahead.

Race leader Chris Froome said on the eve of the first mountain stage on Tuesday that it is now up to his rivals to attack him.
"It's up to other teams to put pressure on us, this is the heart of the race now," said Froome.

"All the action's going to be happening now, we're going to see who's done their homework and who's going to do what in the mountains.

"This is where the real race for the yellow jersey starts."

Contador trails him by 1min 03sec, Nairo Quintana is at 1min 59sec and last year's winner Vincenzo Nibali is 2min 22sec back.

However, news also broke that Froome's chief mountains domestique Richie Porte is leaving Team Sky at the end of the year, yet the Australian insisted he is committed to his team leader's cause.

"Fromey is one of my closest friends and so are the rest of the guys. I know what my job is here and I'm excited now to get into the mountains," he said.

Climbing specialist Quintana is another relishing the chance to tackle the high mountains.
"I always enjoy the big climbs," he said smiling.

Nibali, meanwhile, believes that while Froome has dominated so far, he might become vulnerable in the Alps in the final week.

"Right now we know Chris is in form but (Nibali's trainer) Paolo Slongo thinks he might come unstuck in the Alps," said the Sicilian.

The final piece of the overall jigsaw is American Tejay Van Garderen, who while not considered one of the 'fantastic four' is second at 12sec.

While others have to attack to claw back significant time, Van Garderen plans on playing a waiting game.

"In the Pyrenees I'm going to need to mark guys that are important and take the opportunities that are there," he said.
Source: AFP