An interview with Giovanni Lombardi, discussing the Worlds, his decision to prolong his contract for two more years (he had originally planned to stop this year), and - of particular interest here - his importance to Ivan Basso.

I’ve also updated the links section of the site.

From saturday I have been in Tuscany at Bjarne Riis home, in order to train together with three of my companions (perhaps four, if Giovanni Lombardi joins us after Spain). These will be crucial days in order to determine whether I still have sufficient ressources for the athletic level to dispute a great ending to the season. If the answers of my physicist are positive, then for sure the road is clear to the Giro dell’Emilia, the Zuri Megetze, and the Giro di Lombardia. Regardless of the result, however, this has been my best season yet as a professional cyclist.

If you’re wondering why the site looks a bit funny, it’s because I’ve upgraded the underlying web site software. As a result, I had to redo the site template, and (hopefully) implemented some improvements. Still a few things to fix, but I’ll hopefully fix them over the next couple of weeks.

I’ve also uploaded a whole bunch of new photos, courtesy of Christine Grein of Capture-The-Peloton (Giro d’Italia), IvanBasso.it (Giro and Tour), as well as my own photos from the last stage of the Tour of Denmark. The race schedule has also been updated.

Daily Peloton has recently published an interview with Ivan Basso from his visit to the San Francisco Grand Prix. Here, for the first time, we get an inkling of Ivan’s plans for next season. Seems that a Giro-Tour double repeat attempt may be in the cards after all.

Daily Peloton Interview with Ivan Basso

In the september edition (Issue 77, September 2005) of ProCycling, there is also a short feature on Ivan Basso as the heir to Lance Armstrong (Ivan Basso - Heir to the Throne).

Bjarne Riis has also weighed in with strong indications that Ivan Basso will attempt the double next year.