ivan basso

nonameboy

this guy hes a great rider,but when will this guy try to atack in the tour ,all these years ive seen him on the tour i havent seen a single atack by him he just happy to follow the wheell of others.
he´s he afraid to ride on his own,maybe hes scared of getting lost.

rule62

His team already being down two members is having its effect on him. Riis has mismanaged this Tour in so many ways. I would start there before I would question Basso. But that's just me.

If you ask Ivan, he would tell you that he was never looking for the race to be decided in the Alps anyway.

nonameboy

but im not only talking about this tour im talking about all the tours he´s been he never atacked,mancebo use to be the same way but he changed last year and this year too and now he tries to atck many atacks and cause of that he had is best result last year and now he´s going to be up there too.

JensCph

I dont think Riis has mismanaged the tour at all. Quite the opposite. People just expect way too much of this team. LA fans see the CSC as the main contender team, when the fact is, that if you check out individual rider strength CSC should (by strength) be team number 4 or 5 in this tour. Its only due to good management and team morale that make it up where it is, along with failure of TMob, Pho, and pretty much everyone else.

Not only that, but the CSC team is financially very small and have not gotten a sponsor deal for next year in place. So they dont have the luxery of just putting everything on the line and go full force for Basso. They have to have other priorities in order not to implode the teams future if Basso fails. They need the team competition quite badly (which means having 3 riders near the top on *every* stage). And they also need the exposioure that the few days in yellow have given them. DSC may ride this race only to win, but CSC is riding this to survive. Their budget is less than 1/3 of DSC (and TMob). I dont think there can be any doubt that CSC is the sponsor that has been getting the most adverticing per $ payed.

guncha

Actually Basso attacked in this year's Giro. But I don't think he is able to beat Lance because of the participation in this year's Giro. However, he has good chance for being on the podium because his ITT is good comparing to other 2nd and 3rd place rivals.

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ilpirata

He is strong, steady, and boring. I did not see him get off the saddle even. He does not have the change of rythym that is so necessary to attack, and to break away on climbs. From what I've seen then, in my opinion, he cannot win this tour . Armstrong has shown superiority in the mountains and has demonstrated to be better than him in the ITT as well. Basso will have to show some kind of attack if he wishes to repeat on the podium.

wolfix

Well managed team .. Riis has gotten great exsposure that is needed for contract time. He has Basso sitting there ready to attack Armstrong if it's possible. Riis knows that only a failure on Discovery's part will put someone other then Armstong in yellow. So far , Discovery has shown itself to be one of the greatest assembledge of riders in the TDF.
If Armstrong has a failure, Basso has as good as chance as anyone. Crashes [Zabriskie]and great rides[Voigt-stage 9 ] have dimiinished CSC'c chances at the overall.. Julich & Basso ???? Why not? They know how to ride and win.
People seem to forget that history is being made here. We have one of the finest riders of all time racing in this period of history. Great riders/teams leave little of the spoils to their challengers. Riis has picked up a few of those spoils. In the end, let's see what the big budget T-Mobile team has .....T-Mobile could be the most mismanaged team in this years TDF. We will see.

SteveR2

very insightful, thanks

Crankster

Basso - third last year and marked as #1 challenger to Lance.
Julich - third in 1998 and in better shape than ever.
Voigt - one of the strongest man in the peloton, winner of many races.
Sastre - easily top 10 contender for GC,
Lombardi - leadout man for Cippo, one of the most powerful riders ever.
Zabriskie - the only man to win stages at all three Grand Tours in the past 12 months. Superb powerhouse for TTs.

This is quite a list of names - on par with T-mobile and Disco. Which 4 teams would have better individual riders than CSC? And if "individually" they are only 5th like you say, how come their ITT performance was essentially equal to that of Disco boys?

Money is not everything. Stop looking for cop-outs. Basso is the biggest threat to Lance and he was given every chance to hang on the climb, but he didn't.

Just to add - CSC is also leading in team standings.

I was much more impressed by Riis last year. But the decision to race Basso both in Giro and the Tour was a terrible management decision, and possibly cost them a shot at Lance at the Tour. Basso didn't do so great at Giro anyways, and I think pressure of pink got to him. A lot of training, a lot of form lost. Bruneel would never make a mistake like this.

Comments about Discovery getting a "lucky" victory in TTT is once again very strange comment by Riis.

They defend Zabriskie yellow for four days, then he drops out. They put Voigt in yellow, then he drops out. Do they have a plan? Do they have any priorities? Giving CSC yellow for a few days seems to only benefit LA more.
Sastre attacks Discos on stage 9, only to be dropped a few minutes later by the same 30-men group he just attacked. A lot of mistakes for CSC. They have a better chance than anyone to challenge LA, but they haven't done anything so far... We'll see over weekend.

spockroyaltea

i was under the impression that he didn't attack last year because he and CSC were riding for second place...or atleast that is what someone said on OLN. It seems that he has improved a lot, but he seems to be in the same for he was in last tour: which is good, but probably not going to get him into yellow.

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rule62

Yeah Crankster, the last part of your post is pretty much the way that I would respond as well. Riis is clearly a talented and gifted DS. The same can be said of Basso. This weekend is going to go a long way in respect to how they will be viewed.

Sport is full of examples of teams with less money besting those who seemingly have all the advantages. Sport is also full of examples where someone with less talent but more heart and passion comes out the victor. There are far more Davids in this world than Goliaths.

Personally, I hope CSC brings it.

limerickman

Basso's form has been unpredicatble to say the least.

In watching him in the Giro, he had one terrible day when he lost 42mins on the mountain stage (Stage 14 Passo Stevilo): at the summit Riis got out of the team car to give him a cape and you could see him asking if he (Basso) wished to continue.
Basso had stomach problems.
basso told Riis that he would continue.
A few days later Basso was back winning stages.

So at the very least Basso shows that he's got mettle.

I think CSC do want Basso to perform in the TDF, for many reasons.
CSC need to consolidate sponsorship, so a win in the TDF would be great publicity (CSC almost imploded due to financial pressure before the start of the season).

Has the Giro taken too much out of Basso for the TDF ?
Only time will tell.