At the annual celebration together with his Italian fan club, Ivan Basso promised his fans that he would do his best to win the Tour next year, but that he had not forgotten the Giro. “First the Tour, then the Giro”, Basso said to his fan club - more than 500 people - assembled in Varese. “The Giro remains one of the priorities of my career, but it demands the full commitment of my energies. I will definitely return to it in two years time to fight for the victory.” Basso also made clear that he has other ambitions in his career than just to become a one-Tour champion. “In time, I hope to try also to win the Vuelta and the World Championship,” Basso concluded.

The Tour de France 2006 was presented today, and its a route that is very traditional, with one single twist. Gone is the team time trial that has dominated previous years editions - something that is displeasing to Team CSC boss Bjarne Riis. “I am very dissappointed that the team time trial has been removed this time”, he is quoted as saying. Apart from the lack of the team time trial, the event contains two long time trials and five mountain stages, all placed in the latter part of the race.

Ivan Basso is reported as being satisfied with the course. “It’s a good route. It’s OK for me, although I would perhaps have preferred one less time trial and one more mountain stage”, Basso says. ” I think I still have a lot of work left in order to become better at time trials, even if I have already spent many hours, and done a lot of work on my time trial work. I will also have to improve my climbing.”

“There is no doubt that the route favorizes Jan Ullrich”, says Bjarne Riis. “That is a given when there are two long time trials, and the first mountain stages start out so softly.” Riis would not say that he was dissappointed with the parcours, other than with the removal of the team time trial.

(Quotes translated from Danish press reports).

Bicirace.com has an interview with Ivan Basso

According to speculations/reports in the Danish press, Bjarne Riis and Ivan Basso have decided that Basso will not attempt the Giro next year and focus entirely on the Tour. Riis considers next year Basso’s best chance to win the Tour, and wants his captain 100% focused on that task.

Interviews in the Italian media, however, give a slightly different status on the question, and it therefore seems like the issue is not 100% decided, although it is beginning to seem very unlikely that Basso will repeat his 2005 Giro-Tour double next year.

Although “officially” on vacation, Ivan Basso still spends time on his bike. Today, Ivan Basso participated at the Two-man Time Trial in Italy called Trofeo Citta di Borgomanero, together with his Italian Team CSC team mate Andrea Peron. On the 50,4 km route, Bass and Peron crushed the opposition, winning the TT in 1.01.28, 1:32 ahead of Petachhi and Velo in second place. Other notable riders participating included time trial specialist Marzio Bruseghin and Serhiy Honchar, as well as ProTour winner Danilo Di Luca and Damiano Cunego.

Team CSC has announced that Ivan Basso has ended his 2005 season.

”It has been the plan all along, that if Ivan wasn’t able to sit up front in the last big races – especially Tour of Lombardy – there was no point in continuing. He’s had a long tough season and he has really made some great results. He deserves great respect for attempting to do well at the very end of the season. This is solely thanks to his professional attitude towards his work. Not many riders are capable of going fast more or less from the beginning of the season as well as in the Giro and the Tour, and then at the same time having ambitions about winning the last race of the year. He has fought hard to stay in shape after a brilliant summer, but now we’ve made the decision together for him to call it a day for 2005. He needs a good break so he can start again, feeling refreshed and ready for the year ahead,” announces Bjarne Riis.

”It has been a long and fantastic season for me, and I can feel that Bjarne and I have made the right choice with me finishing now. 2005 has been my best season ever as a professional rider, and I have a lot of great moments to look back on along with the team. After such a brilliant season it’s good to withdraw and be able to reflect and analyze everything. For me it’s also about finally having time with my family, because I haven’t seen much of them through the summer. I’m looking forward to being at home more, and then slowly starting to look towards next year,” says Ivan Basso, who’s biggest results this year are the second place in the Tour de France, two stage wins in Giro d’Italia as well as total dominance in the Tour of Denmark, where the 27 year old Italian won four out of six stages as well as the overall victory.

Ivan Basso did not finish the race at Zuri-Megetze, where an impressive Paolo Bettini proved himself as the strongest rider at the moment, and Ivan’s teammate Frank Schleck impressed with an impressive second place.

As expected, Basso was too tired and not in good enough form during yesterdays race. As a result, it is expected that he will end his season for the year, and not contest the Giro dell’Emilia or the Giro di Lombardia as originally planned.

Before the start of the ProTour race Zuri-Megetze, Ivan Basso is being reported to have been down with a cold. As a result, his form is not where it should be - and the hoped for top results in the last couple of races may thus elude Team CSC’s Italian star.

Riis comments: “It is unlikely that he will be as strong this year as he was last year at this time. He has been training well, but there is still a good distance up to his top level, and if he has trouble tommorrow in Switzerland (i.e., today), we might as well hang up the bike for the season”.

In other news, it is being reported that Lars Michaelsen is considering contract offers from Team Unibet.com and Team CSC.

An important rider for Ivan Basso’s attempt on the Tour throne, third-place winner at the Vuelta 2005 Carlos Sastre Candil, chose to extend his contract with CSC today. Sastre had been tempted by offers on other teams, where he would have had the chance to ride as co-captain at the Tour, but ultimately chose to stay at Team CSC where he will help Ivan to go for the Tour crown. Carlos has been a member of CSC for 4 years, and prior to last year, had made the Top-10 in the Tour three times in a row.

”I chose to stay with Bjarne and Team CSC because I feel so strongly about this team. Bjarne and I met in Madrid and really managed to talk everything through in a positive way, and afterwards the decision was easy. I have everything on this team – especially a lot of good friends, whom I wouldn’t want to be without. I’ve achieved a lot in my career, and I think, I’ll get even further at Team CSC,” says Sastre.

With Sastre’s contract renewal, the Team CSC line-up for next year looks as follows right now:
Kurt Asle Arvesen (Nor), Lars Ytting Bak (Den), Ivan Basso (Ita), Michael Blaudzun (Den), Matti Breschel (Den), Linus Gerdemann (Ger), Allan Johansen (Den), Bobby Julich (Usa), Giovanni Lombardi (Ita), Christian Müller (Ger), Andrea Peron (Ita), Jakob Piil Storm (Den), Luke Roberts (Aus), Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa), Andy Schleck (Lux), Frank Schleck (Lux), Nicki Sörensen (Den), Peter Luttenberger (Aut), Brian Vandborg (Den), Christian Vandevelde (Usa), Jens Voigt (Ger) and David Zabriskie (Usa) with new signings Fabian Cancellara (Swi), Martin Pedersen (Den), Karsten Kroon (Ned) and Marcus Ljungqvist (Swe) . Still uncertain is the contract status of Lars Michaelsen (Den). With the core of the team from this year’s almost certain winners of the ProTour team rankings preserved, it looks as if Basso will have a strong team for next year.