At the SportsGalla in Denmark, Basso informed that he is going to become a dad for the second time. He also told of how he was hit by a car on Boxing Day, while out on a training ride. He was descending on a mountain on wet roads when the car came up too close to him, with the result that when he braked, the car drove into him. Fortunately he was able to get away from the accident with nothing more than a few bruised ribs and scratches.

Jens Voigt has had two fantastic seasons at Team CSC, but he sees next year as the season where one of his great dreams can come true.

“I see him (Ivan Basso) as the man who can realize one of the dreams I really want to come true. I have this picture in my head of eight CSC riders, with Ivan in the yellow jersey on their wheel in front of the whole peloton on the road along the Seine towards the Champs Elysees on the final stage of the Tour de France,” he says. “I can imagine that, and that would simply be one of the greatest things I can experience as a rider. And I don’t think it is impossible that I could experience this.”

Bobby Julich has had his perhaps greatest season ever in 2006, with two ProTour victories. But in 2006, he is prepared to sacrifice his own results on Basso’s behalf. He will be riding both the Giro and the Tour, and his goal will be to get Basso on the podium in both.

Especially the Tour will receive a lot of focus next year, but Julich warns against trying to copy the US Postal/Discovery way of riding the Tour. “We can’t ride in the way that Discovery has done for many year. We are strong as a team, but we know our limitations. We will not be trying to copy their way of riding it… that is now how >>one<< wins the Tour, it is just how Lance won it”.

Voigt and Julich are part of the pre-selection for the Tour squad, which contains Ivan Basso, Carlos Sastre, Jens Voigt, Stuart O’Grady, Kurt-Asle Arvesen, Frank Schleck, Fabien Cancellara, Jakob Piil, Bobby Julich, Giovanni Lombardi, and Dave Zabriskie.

In addition, the Giro squad will contain Ivan Basso, Bobby Julich, Nicki Sørensen, Andrea Peron, Iñigo Cuesta, Giovanni Lombardi, Michael Blaudzun, Volodymir Gustov and Christian Vande Velde.”

I apologize for not having approved a couple of comments earlier. Unfortunately, there have been heavy attempts to spam the site over the last couple of months, so combined with lots of travelling (so that I haven’t had time to check the site much), I only noticed the “legal” comments today.

There has been lots of conflicting messages over the past couple of weeks, but now it looks to be certain. According to Danish TV, Riis and Basso announced today that Ivan Basso will also be riding the Giro d’Italia in 2006. According to the same report, he is likely to be joined in the Giro by a team consisting of Bobby Julich, Nicki Sørensen, Andrea Peron, Iñigo Cuesta, Giovanni Lombardi, Michael Blaudzun, Volodymir Gustov, and Christian Vande Velde.

On the 28th of November, Ivan Basso was honored with the prestigious Torretta for “Atleta Europeo dell’Anno” (European Athlete of the Year), in Milano. He received the honor for his second place in the Tour de France, and his overall successful season.