The final stage was taken by Robert Forster, but today Ivan Basso cemented the greatest victory of his carreer to win the Giro d’Italia with more than 9 minutes down to second placed Gutierrez in what has been one of the most dominant Giro displays in the post-war era.

More later..

Sorry about the lack of updates; unfortunately I’m away on holiday. There’s not much to say anyway, that isn’t already being said in the media. After a fairly easy stage thursday, friday saw great sporting behaviour by Jens Voigt, and today Basso once again showed who\s the boss at this year’s Giro d’Italia, and won his third stage, and extended his lead over Jose Guiterrez by more than nine minutes.

More updates to come next week.

The media ran out of superlatives today, as Ivan Basso rode solo with 6.5 km to go, to win the legendary stage up Monte Bondone.

Saunier Duval upped the pressure on the peloton today, riding for a stage win for Gilberto Simoni, and to bring the Trentino rider closer to the podium. The pressure had its effect, hard work by Piepoli dropping both Di Luca, Cunego and Savoldelli. But CSC was on the ball as well, and the whole team - but in particular Voigt, Gustov, Cuesta and Sastre helped set the pace up the Bondone. Half way into the climb, Gilberto Simoni puts in an attack that drops everyone but Ivan Basso who calmly assesses the damage and then rides up to join Simoni. He thens works together with Simoni until - sensing his moment - he puts in an attack that drops the two-time Giro winner, and showing that he is not content to just ride and defend all the way to Milan. At the summit, Basso has put in 1:27 into Simoni, who comes in 11 seconds ahead of surprise package Gutierrez and Piepoli. Savoldelli loses more than 3 minutes.

With 5 stages still left, Ivan Basso’s lead is now a commanding 5 minutes over Gutierrez, with third placed Savoldelli a massive nine minutes in arrears. The GC:

1. Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC
2. José E. Gutierrez Cataluna (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems @ 5.24
3. Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team @ 9.17
4. Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir @9.34

”It was a fantastic feeling to win on a mountain wearing the pink jersey. I think it’s something all riders dream about, certainly it’s always been a big dream of mine ever since I became a pro. Of course all victories are important, but this one will always be special to me. The team set me up perfectly, so I was able to do my bit at the end to try and finish the job. It’s really hard for me to put into words, how I feel, and I have a very tough day ahead of me tomorrow. But I do feel very happy with what we’ve accomplished today. The Giro is far from over and I won’t preconceive me winning, but today is a day I’ll never forget that’s for sure,” Basso said after the stage.

Scott Sunderland updated his diary after today’s stage. In it, he comments on Basso’s success and in particular praises his dedication to training: “Overall, Ivan’s professionalism and his dedication to training and racing is something I have seen in very few other riders. He’s very secure at home, there’s no show about him either. He was offered a pink helmet the other day, and he said, ‘No, that’s not me.’ I think everybody will start to get to know the real Ivan Basso more in the near future.”

Riis was quoted today on Eurosport: “I took Ivan Basso as a leader in the team when Hamilton stopped because I knew he has the mind to enter in our philosophy and because Cecchini, my friend who was following his preparation, used to be enthusiastic about him. Ivan was a great rider and I knew he would have become a champion able to win a big three weeks race.”

“He is improving every year in the time-trial and the mountains. He is also determinate, motivated, smart, loyal and he has a big passion for cycling. He is very meticulous: for example every day he makes 100 abdominal exercises to not have problems with his back. Ivan can win the Giro and the Tour.”

Team CSC was in control of both Sunday’s stage, won by Panaria’s Laverde, and Monday’s flat sprint stage, won by Paolo Bettini. Despite crossing two mountains on Sunday’s stage, there was no attack by the other favorites on the pink jersey. Most of the pre-favorites seem to have thrown in the towel, after Basso’s awesome display of climbing on the Colle San Carlo. And the plaudits have been many from the opponents:

“Sure the Giro ends at the Aprica only, but Basso is blatantly superior to anyone else, even more than I expected him to be. And I think that, even if he slows down a bit the next week, it will be very tough for the others to beat him. There’s no way a guy going so fast as Basso’s doing in this period can bonk,” said Savoldelli on Sunday. Damiano Cunego referred to Basso as “Super”, for which comment Basso thanked, and said “I’ve tried to do my best and hope to continue [doing so]. I’m tranquillo, but still have to continue till the end - I’ll just keep trying to do my best.”

Among other observations, Basso notes that the Giro is more and more beginning to resemble the Tour, commenting: “It is a big battle at the start of the stage, when everyone tries to get away in the breaks. It is a beautiful show for the tifosi. I see a lot of warmth from the spectators, and it is also very good for the riders.”

As the race enter the dolomites, Basso promises not to ride too defensively. “Yes, I want to win more stages. Why not, if my form allows? But in the Grand Tours, of course, one must also ride with ones head.”

In the rain and cold, Ivan Basso demonstrated once again that he is the strongest rider at the Giro d’Italia this year. After a perfect leadout up the Colle San Carlo by Jens Voigt, Inigo Cuesta and Carlos Sastre which dropped many of the would-be contenders, Ivan Basso set in an attack that dropped everyone but Piepoli and Gilberto Simoni. Shortly afterwards, Basso put in another acceleration that left Simoni struggling in his wake and only Piepoli hanging on to Ivan Basso.

On the cold and wet descent towards La Thuile, Ivan Basso rode very carefully, and Piepoli was able to work up a 40 second lead to take the stage win. Ivan Basso took second place, and was able to increase his overall lead to 3.27 to José Gutierrez (Phonak) in second place, and 5.30 to Paolo Savoldelli in third.

”Again I felt really strong out there, and I knew I had the chance to gain some additional time. The descent was very slippery and I didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks, because I definitely don’t want to end up in the ditch trying to win a stage. On the whole I’m quite satisfied with the way the day went, and it was important to take advantage of the fact that I had good legs today, because I’m expecting a lot of attacks from my rivals during the next few stages,” said Ivan Basso after the stage.

Some of the other contenders are not so optimistic, though. “I keep going up and down on the GC, but my gap to Basso keeps getting bigger and bigger. I asked Ivan to leave something for us. But I think the only way to stop him is by shooting him in the legs,” Gilberto Simoni joked after the race.

Team CSC spent the entire day at the front of the peloton, in what turned out to be a fairly uneventful race for the GC riders today. Danilo Di Luca, Bettini, and Cunego tried an attack on the last mountain of the day, but this was easily controlled by the four CSC riders riding pace for Ivan Basso on the last climb of the day.

Juan Horrach won the stage from a breakaway that also contained Emanuelle Sella and Vladimir Belli. With the break arriving at the finish 7 minutes before the rest of the peloton, both Sella and Belli moved up in the GC to fourth and fifth place respectively, though still more than 4 minutes of the pace of Ivan Basso.

With the Colle San Carlo coming up, tommorrow will be a day where we can expect to see a flurry of attacks.

The big story of Stage 11 was the re-emergence of Jan Ullrich, who answered all his critics by winning the 50 km long individual time trial. Hindered by changing wind conditions, none of the other in-form specialists were able to match the big German who was able to take his first GT stage win since 2003.

But while Ullrich was the name on everyone’s lips by the end of the stage, Ivan Basso put in a ride to make waves. The only rider who was even close to threatening for the win, Basso powered around the 50 kms only twenty-eight seconds slower than Jan Ullrich, and demonstrating his superiority in the discipline over all his Giro rivals - even catching up and passing Damiano Cunego, his five minute man. With his performance, Basso put in 51 seconds on Paolo Savoldelli, 3:53 on Gilberto Simoni, and a whopping 5:03 on Damiano Cunego. Even TT specialist and Giro surprise Jose Gutierrez was distanced by a solid 1:14.

”I’m very pleased with my performance today. It was a crucial stage for us, and I could tell afterwards that Bjarne was satisfied, which means a lot to me. It was important to gain as much time as possible on my closest rivals, who will all definitely be attacking some time in the remaining stages, so from that point of view it was a perfect day for us,” was the comment from Ivan Basso after the stage.

Having almost doubled his lead on GC to second-placed Gutierrez, Basso goes into the final week of the Giro with a comfortable margin to all of his worst competitors.

1. Ivan Basso (I), CSC, 40:28:56
2. José E. Gutierrez (Sp), Phonak, at 2:48
3. Sergei Honchar (Ukr), T-Mobile, at 3:24

For CSC, Stage 9 and 10 has been all about getting through them to the ITT on Thursday without loosing any time, and using as little effort as possible to defend the jersey. That mission has succeeded perfectly. Monday, a small two man break went, allowing CSC to take it easy controlling the peloton until Quick-Step went on the front to bring the breakaway back for their man Bettini. Gutierez Catalune (2nd on GC) tried to take a stab on the last mountain before the finish, but he was pegged back by an attentive Jens Voigt, and in the sprint finish Basso was carefully escorted in by room-mate, and lead-out man Giovanni Lombardi. The stage was won by AG2R’s Vaitkus in the sprint.

Giovanni Lombardi also figured on Stage 10. With the flat stages all but done for the Giro, Lombardi sacrificed himself as the CSC representative in the day’s breakaway, allowing CSC to take it easy back in the peloton after an initial hard opening. In the break, also, was Liquigas’s Pellizotti who would go on to win the stage, and he posed a serious threat on GC, eventually forcing Lampre to go to the front to peg back the breakaway. On the final kilometers they attempted to set up an attack for Cunego on the incline up to the goal, but a fresh Jens Voigt was easily able to neutralize their efforts and kill all attempts to attack his Captain.

Basso maintains his lead of 1′34” to Gutierrez Cataluna and 1′48” to Damiano Cunego. Pellizotti moved up to 4th on GC, 2′05” behind Ivan Basso.

Just like last year, Ivan Basso had reason to smile after the first real mountain stage of the Giro d’Italia. Unlike last year, however, Basso was not about to share the glory with anyone today.

Carlos Sastre set Ivan Basso up perfectly as the peloton entered the final 10 km climb, and gradually shedded favorities such as Gonchar, Savoldelli, Di Luca, and Rujano with his blistering pace. Finally, with 4 km to go Damiano Cunego made his move, but Basso responded to the acceleration - followed Cunego - and then planted him on the ascent with his high cadence climbing. Grimacing in his trademark smile, Basso crossed the finish line alone to take the third Giro d’Italia stage of his career, the pink jersey, and take 30 seconds from Damiano Cunego. Gilberto Simoni lost 1:15 and Paolo Savoldelli a whopping 2:20.

Ivan was humble after the victory. “I went to the maximum today. My team did a great job today and Carlos Sastre was exceptional. When Cunego attacked, I couldn’t follow him right away, but I went after him and then just kept going. Last year was a good experience for me, because I learned from it. So I’m just going day by day. We’re still just in the first week of the race. Last year I learned that I could lose an hour in one day when I got sick.”

With many hard stages to come, there is still a long way to Milano. The next big test will come on thursday on the individual time trial, where Basso has the opportunity to put even more time into his rivals.

At least this year, Team CSC brought their own chef to the Giro.