Daily Peloton has published a two part profile written by me (Michael).

The Smiling Assasin: Ivan Basso (Part 1)
The Smiling Assasin: Ivan Basso (Part 2)

Thirty-second at Fleche Wallone, and Tenth at Liege-Bastogne-Liege; these were the results of Ivan Basso’s visit to the Ardennes last weekend. As he explains on his site, these results were not unexpected, and he considers them a good test ahead of the Giro.

At Fleche Wallonne, Ivan worked as a super-domestique for team mates Frank Schleck and Karsten Kroon (who finished fourth and third respectively), controlling the attacks at the end, and delivering both riders to a perfect position before the last climb. At Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Basso himself took up the mantle as one of the captains, and attacked by turns with teammate Frank Schleck to try and secure the victory for the team.

With the Ardennes classics done, all that is now left is to prepare for the Giro d’Italia, starting next saturday. For the rest of these two weeks, Basso will be doing the last reconnaisance of the various climbs that will grace this year’s Giro. Bad weather prevented this weekend’s visit to Mortirolo, but according to reports from IvanBasso.it, training is otherwise progressed according to plan.

A preliminary team line-up has been announced by the Giro organizers, but CSC has noted that the final line-up won’t be decided until after this weekend’s Tour of Romandie.

This thursday, Basso gave his last press conference before the Giro. The following is a rough translation put together from a number of the reports from the interviews.

The first part of the season is almost over, and it has been a success for Team CSC with the two classic wins in Paris-Roubaix (Fabian Cancellara) and Amstel Gold Race (Frank Schleck), according to team owner Bjarne Riis.

“Now it is Ivan’s turn. He is ready for the Giro, and we have great goals and ambitions with his riding both the Giro and the Tour de France. But I believe in him, and our goal is to win,” says Riis, although he notes that it will not be easy, and that right now, the competition in the Giro must be taken seriously.

Apparently, it was originally not the plan that Basso would again attempt the Giro-Tour double. After last years exertions, a tired Ivan Basso allegedly told his manager that he never again wanted to ride both Giro and Tour in the same year, a decision that Riis did not contest. But a change of heart, and rumors about the stages eventually swayed Basso’s opinions, and the final decision became to again attempt the double.

Even though Riis believes in his team captain, he is also aware that things can easily go wrong.

“We know that there is a risk in riding both races. But dammit - if we succeed, it will be worth remembering”, says Riis, underlining that part of the team philosophy is precisely to take chances and risk fairly, in order to learn from the mistakes and do it better next time.

The time between the Giro and the Tour has been carefully planned with a mixture of rest, inspection of Tour stages, and hard training - the last part of which will include the team time trial at Eindhoven. There is also the possibility that Basso will participate at the Individual Time Trial championships in Italy.

Surprisingly, however, Basso has not focused so much on improving his time trialling this year. Having reached a high level in the battle against the clock, he is now instead focusing on becoming better in the mountains. By increasing his acceleration.

“I want to win in the mountains, because that is where I am best. This is my focus at the moment,” says Basso.

Riis concurs. “Basso can not make a difference in the time trials, but I also believe that he will not lose much time. And the Tour is won in the mountains. The best time trialling in the world won’t help you if you can’t follow the best in the mountains,” says Riis.

The prospect of Discovery/US Postal not controlling the peloton with Lance Armstrong now retired does not faze the Team CSC boss, who declares that he is willing to instruct his team to take responsibility if it occasion should arise. “But it will be when I believe it is required, not when the other teams think we should do it,” adds Riis.

Basso does not believe the Tour will be very different, despite Armstrong’s absence. “The Tour is still hard. The race may change a bit, but one will still need the same strong mentality, and the same power. For me, not much will change. I still need the same careful preparations, and I will still have to ride fast.”

Asked to chose between the two Tours, Basso comments: “It is hard. To be honest, I want to win the Tour de France. But right now I am thinking about the Giro.”

“It is necessary to keep both feet on the ground. I have never won one Grand Tour, so my first objective is to win one first,” says Basso.

For more information from the press conference, see:

Cyclingnews
Procycling

A huge day for Team CSC today. With 20kms to go of today’s Paris-Roubaix, Fabian Cancellara counter-attacked on the attempt of ex-CSC rider Vladimir Gusev, and rode solo into the velodrome to win with a margin of over a minute on the chasers. This the biggest one-day victory in the history of Team CSC.

To complete a really good day for Team CSC, Carlos Sastre outsprinted Damiano Cunego to take the win in the Klasika Primavera, and confirm that he is in great shape ahead of the Ardennes classics.

Ivan Basso was not able to defend his podium spot on the last day of the Circuit de Sarthe, loosing out by just a few seconds, but team mate Brian Vandborg kept his third place on the podium and he is happy to have taken yet another victory, as well as the chance to check out the time trial route.

To Politiken, Basso comments that he believes the first time trial is well suited to his capabilities, and he believes he will have a good chance of winning it. Although he still consideres Jan Ullrich the big favorite due to the great amount of time trial kilometers, he goes so far as to say that the first time trial is probably the best time trial route the Tour de France has ever offered him.

Basso’s next races will be La Fleche Wallone and Liege-Bastogne-Liege - both of which he will be riding to win, if the form is there.

Ivan Basso continued his winning ways this season, when he once again demolished the opposition in a Time Trial. Ivan Basso, who has spent the previous day motor-pacing along the long time-trial course he will ride during the Tour de France, took the 8,8 km course in 10′33” - a second faster than second-placed team mate Brian Vandborg. World ITT Champion, Michael Rogers, languished 9 seconds behind in 8th place. Brian Vandborg took the leaders jersey, thanks to a bonus second he had picked up during the afternoons stage.

Cyclingnews reports from Basso’s reconnaisance of the Rennes TT course:

“Nice, very nice,” were Basso’s words after having completed the parcours from Saint Grégoire to Rennes twice - the first time easy, and the second time with a little more edge. “I think it’s the best time trial course in the last five years; it’s very suitable for power.”

“This time trial will create the first gaps between the leaders,” Gallopin continued. “The wind will play a great part if it blows, like today, from the west: the first kilometres will then be decisive. Afterwards, with the back wind, it’ll be very fast until Rennes. The time trial’ ending in the streets of Rennes is beautiful, and more importantly not twisty at all, which makes it safe, just like the whole parcours.”

Proving his time trial prowess today on the road at the Circuit de Sarthe, Basso once again demonstrated that he is well on track to mounting a strong attempt on the two Grand Tours.

Today, Gerolsteiner’s Förster won the first stage of the Circuit de Sarthe and took over the leader’s jersey. But not for long, if Ivan Basso has his will. For the command from Bjarne Riis to his team captain is clear: “I want you to ride every stage as if it was a stage in the Tour, and I want you to win!”

Until last year, Ivan Basso was not known as a rider who took a lot of victories. That changed last year, when he racked up an impressive 17 victories (8 UCI races in addition to 9 unlisted races). And Riis’s new training doctrine ahead of this year’s “preparation races” is simple: Basso will be go for the win whenever possible - to accustom Basso even more to the role of the leader - and to accustom the team to follow the orders of their Italian captain.

In the Circuit de Sarthe, Ivan Basso is accompanied by Bobby Julich, Giovanni Lombardi, Andrea Person, Volodomyr Gustov, and Brian Vandborg - many of the same riders who will accompany him in Italy in a few weeks time. While he is there, Ivan will also be looking over the stages for the Tour de France - some of which roads will be used during the Circuit de Sarthe.

After the Circuit, Basso will be going on a short training camp, before the Ardennes classics Fleche Wallone and Liege-Bastogne-Liege - where the goal will be the same as in Circuit de Sarthe - to win!