  After the rejection of their comment [arXiv:cond-mat/0609399v1] to our Phys.
Rev. Lett. {\bf 97}, 100601 (2006), the Authors informed us that an extended
version of their comment is going to be published in a different journal under
the direct editorial responsibility of one of them. We then decided to make
publicly available our formal reply, originally prepared for publication in
Phys. Rev. Lett.
