The Italian cycling federation dropped doping allegations against Giro d'Italia champion Ivan Basso on Friday.

The organization upheld the Italian Olympic Committee's recommendation that the case against Basso be dismissed, the federation said in a statement.

Basso was excluded from this year's Tour de France after being linked to the Spanish Operacion Puerto doping investigation.

"It's the right outcome," Basso's lawyer, Massimo Martelli, told The Associated Press. "More than being happy, we feel it was deserved."